Camouflage: The 172nd Hunger Games
by later.glader
Summary: When Janus Megalos became President 6 years ago, Panem had finally united as one and the games were no longer frowned upon. It's such a shame that external forces threaten to ruin that peace. Read this year's games to see Mentors, Gamemakers and a President try to save Panem from a looming threat while pretending everything is totally normal.
1. Chapter 1: Mentor Gala

**Janus Megalos**

 **President of Panem**

President Megalos sat staring at the screen in awe. In all of his 6 years as President never had he seen a mentors gala so elegant. Usually, there was a red carpet, a few pretty lights and that was as exciting as it got.

However, this year the new Head Gamemaker had really gone all out. Giving the mentors a black tie dress code, a lot of pretty lights and the President's personal favourite feature –the diamond encrusted mansion, which would be used for the banquet after.

Before his Presidency, other Presidents had attended the event but Janus always thought that a President shouldn't be too involved in the Hunger Games or it would lead to his downfall.  
It was such a shame that this year Janus would have to go against his beliefs and interfere with the games. Maybe it would lead to his downfall as President. But then again, everyone could be dead or on the brink of death this time next year.

But enough with the bleak matters, Janus was ready with his popcorn to watch the rest of the event.

Shortly, cars would start to pull up next to the red carpet for the big reveal of the mentors for this year's hunger games.

Mostly, the mentors were the same throughout the years but districts with large amounts of victors changed frequently and it was always exciting to see who was mentoring. And this year not even Janus knew who was going to be mentoring; it was going to be a surprise to him as well as the rest of Panem.

After listening to Sappho and Phaon's corny presenting – which seemed to last an eternity – the first car containing the District 1 mentors.

A squeal of excitement immediately turned to one of fright when the door burst open.

"Sir, I have an update." blurted Selene, the only person the President trusted to be his assistant.

"Shhhhhhhhhhhh." Janus whined, drawing out the last syllable.

"But we got-"

"Shush."

"Bu-"

"Shh"

"Seriousl-"

"Shh"

" _Sir_ -"

Janus sighed. "You know I hate being called Sir."

"Well I have your attention now do I not?"

"Selene. Can this not wait until after the mentor's gala?"

"Sure, it's not like the future of Panem is at stake." replied the young girl.

"Great, thanks! You're just in time to see the reveal of district 2." Janus said, choosing to ignore the girl's blatant sarcasm.

Together Janus and Selene sat oooing and ahhing at the magnificent dresses and suits of the various mentors for this year's games. With Janus constantly mocking Sappho and Phaon's commentary. So much so that it earned him a quite a few elbows in the rib from Selene.

Soon the public event was over and both the paparazzi and the Capitol seemed content with the mentors.

Next was time for the feast. Of course Janus got an invitation but declined it because why attend a feast in uncomfortable clothing when you can watch it from the comfort of your own sofa?

This part of the gala was solely for letting the mentors relax before the games began, therefore was not an event viewed by the public. Over recent years, Janus made sure it was rewarding for the mentors. After all, he was grateful for their help every year.

Light conversations started while food was being served which caused Janus to smile to himself. It was nice to see the mentors finally getting on after years of petty and pathetic rivalries. Now Janus could confidently say all of the mentors were friends – well with a few exceptions.

Whilst the mentors ate, Janus and Selene ordered pizzas from the best pizza shop in Panem. Janus went for the classic margarita which tasted like heaven itself. Selene however, decided to commit the worst possible sin known to man – by ordering a ham and pineapple pizza.  
 _What kind of monster puts pineapple on pizza?!_

They had argued about this for ages and only finishing when Velvet Coelho, victor of the 171st Hunger Games stood up to make her first speech as mentor.

"Firstly, I would like to thank all of my fellow mentors who have been helping me on my journey to becoming a better person. Without you guys I would still be the heartless career I was last year."

Next to Janus, Selene winced, evidently remembering Velvet killing a quarter of the tributes in her arena without any remorse or sympathy for the tributes.

"I wish I could say that I am a completely changed person and that I regret my actions but I do not. For years I had career values constantly drilled into my head and it's hard to be rid of them but I genuinely hope that this time next year I will be a better person and can visit the graves of those I killed and feel something. Anything."

The victors clapped and cheered, all wanting to support Velvet as she was one of them.

"This year I'm going to try my bloody hardest to bring back a victor. So Kelby get ready. Soon you won't be the only mentor to bring back a tribute the year after winning."

"Bring it on!" Kelby shouted, already a bit tipsy.

For the rest of the evening the mentors had the time of their lives. Partying and joking late into the night.

Unfortunately, for Janus and Selene they had more serious matters to talk about. A matter Janus had been dreading for months now. By now they had moved to his office with a small TV in the background, just to keep an eye on the mentors.

"Janus. Switzerland have now signed the declaration. Only 5 more countries and then it's us against the rest of the world." Selene stated, nearly in tears.

"Switzerland? But they've always been a neutral country."

"I know but everyone's had enough of kids killing each other for entertainment."

Selene handed Janus tremendous amounts of paperwork. He analysed page after page and with each turn of a page Janus felt his heart sink even further. This was the first time he feared for the future of Panem and the future of his people.

Minutes later Janus looked up to see Selene sobbing quietly. Her nose was running and mascara streaking down her rosy cheeks.

Janus walked around his desk to comfort her. He dragged a chair and put his arms around her. He noticed that all of the stress was really affecting Selene, seeing the dark circles developing under her eyes. It was times like this he wished he hadn't taken the Presidency position early; now both he and Selene had to bear the weight of Panem on their shoulders at the mere age of 22.

"Hey, don't worry. There's still 5 countries who haven't signed. One of them being Russia, a key country needed weapon wise."

This didn't seem to help Selene at all and instead made her sob even more. It upset Janus to see someone he considered a friend upset.

"Janus don't you understand? All they need to do is persuade Russia to sign the declaration and the _whole world_ attacks. That means no more Panem because we both know that the peacekeepers aren't trained for war."

Suddenly Janus jumped up, sending his chair flying.

"That's it! Selene you're a bloody genius."

Half an hour later Janus and Selene had outlined a plan to save Panem from external forces.

"Janus Megalos, I don't know whether you're brave or utterly stupid."

The president chuckled at the statement but it quickly disappeared when he glanced at the small TV screen with all of the mentors dancing and laughing.

"I feel bad that I'm dragging them into this." He sighed.

Janus just hoped that the mentors would help them with this ludicrous plan, even if it could put everyone in danger.

 **A.N: Hey guys! I'm excited to have my first SYOT up after months of planning.  
I hope you liked the first prologue and that you'll submit. **

**Also, please let me know what you think of it. I'm open to any criticisms because I know that my writing is a bit rusty after not writing properly for 2 years.**

 **The form is up on my profile and I will accept reservations for slots but unfortunately I will not take review tributes. Since it's my first SYOT I will have a first come first serve basis with a maximum of two tributes per person. If there is a tribute I really don't like or don't think I will be able to write well then I will reject them but it's most likely I'll accept every tribute that comes my way XD**

 **If you guys have any questions feel free to drop me a PM.  
Hope to see you guys submit :) **


	2. Chapter 2: Mentor Intros Part 1

**Janus Megalos**

 **President of Panem**

Janus could not stop pacing up and down. He had to stop the deafening silence somehow. Even with his footsteps and the sound of the clock ticking, Janus couldn't rid himself of the silent moments which threatened to implement doubt into his idea.

But his plan had to work. He didn't even want to think of the consequences of its failure. There was a reason his grandfather had left the Presidency to him and not his father. Janus had to prove his grandfather right and his father wrong.

If the plan failed then he would have let everybody down. Every man, woman, child. Every farmer, shopkeeper, factory worker. Every set of siblings, parents, partners. Heck, he'd even let down every crazy drunk idiot.

And that was the one thing Janus could not and would not do. He refused to be anything like his father. 10 years on and people still spoke of his shenanigans, but it kind of pleased Janus. It meant people were never going to forget the despicable person that was Janus' father.

Selene had sent messages to the mentors and made it clear that they were to arrive at exactly 1300 hours. But she had left to go get water and snacks for the meeting. He wished she would hurry up so he could practise his speech once more.

To pass the time Janus decided to watch the mentor recap. Every year it was presented by Sappho and Phaon, and always included fun facts and a brief history on each mentor – just in case someone had been living under a rock for their entire life.

The show's theme tune played and the two presenters appeared on the screen dressed as Mario and Luigi from some ancient video game.

"Welcome, citizens of Panem to this year's mentor recap. And returning to the mentor positons are some favourites of the Capitol." Sappho announced.

"Let's start with District 1 as usual!" Phaon said cheerily. Sometimes Janus couldn't understand how people could pretend to be so happy all the time.

On the screen appeared an image of the most recent victor – Velvet Coelho. It shows her time in the arena as a bloodthirsty career who killed a quarter of the tributes in her games. However, she made each death as drawn out and painful as possible.

When she won Janus could hear the cheers from the street all the way in his office. He couldn't understand the Capitol's obsession with violence and gore. Personally he hated the sight of blood and quite often it made him feel sick.

Velvet was the only victor that Janus hadn't had a proper conversation with. The last he spoke to her was when he was congratulating her on her victory straight after the games.

All he knew was that she was trying to change her killer attitude, and he respected her for that. But a part of Janus knew the career beliefs and training within her could never change. Especially when they're taught the values of a career from such a young age.

The screen changed to a video of Velvet in District 1's training centre fighting a trainer and by the looks of it she was winning. Again showing off her skills which enabled her to come out victorious.

Then it skipped to a boy with a pastel purple bandana training with Velvet. It was evident he wasn't as trained as her but he had energy about him. The clip ended with Velvet critiquing the boy and smiling at the boy's extravagance and charisma. Janus never thought he was see _the_ Velvet Coelho smiling. Though it was a rarity it was also a pleasant sight.

"Next we have the victor of the 148th Hunger Games and one half of the nation's favourite couple – Rochelle Yates."

Janus was ecstatic that Rochelle was a mentor this year. She was by far his favourite victor purely because of her arena tactics.

Throughout the games she stayed silent in the career pack and only spoke when spoken to. But when Rochelle did speak she made sure to implement doubt into the minds of the careers.

Staying silent during the games made a lot of the pack underestimate her and forget about her. What they didn't know was she watched them and mentally took note of each of her allies' strengths and weaknesses.

To this day Rochelle's games hold the highest viewings and ratings in the history of the games for being the only ever games to have an all-career finale. It was bloody, tense and nail-biting. But it was a mixture of her intelligence and weapon skills which brought her the victory.

The television screen showed a clip of Rochelle and her husband Otto, another victor. This was another reason Janus favoured the victor. Her relationship was literally his OTP and nobody shipped them more than him. He thought they were so cute and their relationship was like a movie storyline.

Janus was disappointed to see the screen flick back to Sappho and Phaon. But he was excited to be updated on the other mentors for this year.

Next up was Kaya Ellis of District 2. Or better known as the once cocky but still fiery victor of the 162nd Hunger Games.

Kaya was one of those tributes that the Capitol loved for her confidence and cockiness. But one which the Districts despised for the same reason.

From knowing her on a personal level Janus knew that Kaya wasn't a bad person at all. Since her games she has worked on her arrogance and reflected on her cold hearted natures. Though she still has a fiery personality.

The screen showed a clip of Kaya with Velvet shopping in the Capitol. From the moment Velvet won the games Kaya had been there for her and the two had seemingly become really close friends.

On that trip Kaya had said, "When I won no body was there for me when I spiralled into a pit of despair. The least I can do is make sure Velvet doesn't spiral into that pit too."

Janus admired her for that. He remembered her not leaving her house for months after the victory tour and it took her until the next games to speak publically. To go through all of that guilt on her own must have been hard. But her doing her absolute best to make sure no one else went through that was admirable.

The scene changed to present time with Kaya in District 2's training centre. They seemed to be having their annual battle for the tribute slot.

Kaya was lecturing the group of teens and they all seemed to be hanging onto every word she said.

All of the group looked like strong contenders but only a few stood out to Janus. Particularly a boy with light brown hair which he obviously took care of and a tall girl with chestnut red hair.

It seemed as though Kaya really wanted a District 2 victory following 1's victory last year. And she was going to really push the tributes this year.

The screen then changed to the other mentor in the centre – Dax Demos. Already the kids with Dax seemed more relaxed than the ones with Kaya.

Dax had a heart of gold when it came to the other victors and every tribute he's ever mentored. He really would do anything for them – one year he even dressed up as a chicken for a week, just to get his tribute water.

Dax was watching chestnut haired girl and neat hair boy compete against each other in an obstacle course. They seemed to be neck and neck but just at the last hurdle the girl overtook, winning.

The boy seemed very frustrated but Dax immediately went over to him to congratulate him and make sure he wasn't beating himself up too much about the loss.

That was what a lot of people loved about Dax. He was so caring and protective of those around him and would do whatever it took to protect them. But that does mean he's one of the most distraught after the games are over.

On the screen appeared a live video call to Dax's two sons, Zale and Kao who were grinning mischievously. They started gossiping about their father and releasing secrets about him. Including how he still sleeps with a stuffed animal despite being 45 years old.

Janus found this hilarious and had always loved Zale and Kao. Mainly because they were very cheeky and rebellious when their father desperately tried to control them and be a lot stricter. He could just imagine Dax's face burning with anger and embarrassment right now.

Soon Sappho and Phaon had to end the call and move onto District 3.

And the screen showed Modemia Wilcox, victor of the 132nd Hunger Games. Her exterior was an aging woman but everyone knew internally she was a genius.

Modemia always sought her words carefully and often spoke in riddles to make people think. In Janus' opinion it was one of the reasons her tribute always got past the top 12.

"I think that Modemia needs a tribute who needs help in some way. Maybe a cocky tribute who thinks they're the best or someone who needs to stop feeling sorry for themselves." Phaon suggested.

"But she's also all about district unity. Wouldn't it be interesting for district 3 to have a pair that already knew each other?" Sappho argued.

"What if they absolutely despised each other?"

"Makes it even easier for Modemia to work her magic."

"Well let's hope that gets put to the test this year."

A video of Ciman Fontaine, victor of the 153rd Hunger Games flashed upon the screen. As usual he had his head stuck in a book but it was a book Janus knew to be banned.

It so happened to be a book about the geography of the world before the foundation of Panem. Even though he had personally given Ciman the book, he was furious at the television studio for showing the book on national television. He just hoped no one took notice of the book itself.

Quickly the screen changed to Ciman in his games, maybe they had realised what the book's title was.

Ciman's games were interesting since the careers had decided to hunt at night and sleep in the day, which caught most tributes off guard. However, Panem would later come to know that Ciman suffered from insomnia which kept him alive in the games.

The careers took out tribute by tribute, night by night all while Ciman was shadowing them and surviving off of the dead tributes' belongings.

The finale soon came and no one expected 14 year old Ciman to win against two 18 year olds but somehow he defeated them and came out victorious.

Soon it was time for the district 4 mentors and they had to have been the best pairing out of them all. They had a past that the whole nation knew about. And no one was going to forget anytime soon.

Mollie Headly, victor of the 160th Hunger Games appeared on the screen with her wife, Shasa and two year old daughter Isla.

"Aw, it's such a shame Mollie won't be there to celebrate her daughter's 3rd birthday." Sappho said, genuinely sounding sad for her.

"I cannot believe it's nearly been three years since Isla was born! And all of the drama seems like yesterday."

Next to the video of Mollie appeared Netta Van Amstel, Victor of the 157th Hunger games and her boyfriend.

As soon as these two victors were announced to be mentoring together Janus knew that he would hear their story everywhere.

Netta had mentored Mollie during her games and brought her back as victor. Due to this the two became the best friends that they are today.

However, they soon developed feeling for each other and they are the only couple to have ever rivalled Otto and Rochelle's relationship as favourite couple. Old videos of the old couple appeared, accompanied with solemn music.

Things had turned messy when Netta was found cheating which sent the quiet and fragile Mollie into despair. No one could reach her for months.

Netta was painted as a villain which harmed her a lot more than the guilt she was faced with.

Janus was about 10 when all of this happened so he didn't understand the heartbreak Netta must have gone through when Mollie moved on and did eventually get married to Shasa.

It took Netta years to gain the confidence to date again, fearing she would mess up again. She did find love with a man called Matt who she's still in a committed relationship with today.

Mollie and Netta did sort things out eventually and have had a strong friendship since.

"Aww, I always tear up at that story." Phaon sniffled.

"And the best part is Netta and Matt ended up being surrogates for Mollie and Shasa. And that's how Isla was born."

"Shhh you just spoilt the ending."

"Well you've been living under a rock if you didn't know the ending."

"I guess. Well here's the ending everyone, even though Sappho spoilt it."

The rest of the clip played with Phaon huffing in annoyance and then the District 5 seal appeared.

There was a video of Eon Alma, victor of the 150th Hunger Games visiting the grave of his sister, Cissy.

Eon was reaped for the quell in which the twist was siblings had to enter. Cissy was obviously the better liked sibling and the one with the most confidence. This didn't leave him in a good position sponsor wise.

During the arena he and Cissy argued a lot and many people doubted that they would be allies by the end. However, they surprised everyone by getting to the top 8 feast. It was here where they had to fight and it ended in Cissy getting a knife to the stomach.

It was a heartfelt goodbye which left the whole Capitol in tears but the games had to go on. The games went on with Eon fighting for his sister and those emotions alone won him the title.

Janus likes Eon for his strength despite everything and even has nominated him for a charity award.

Since he became a mentor Eon goes to every family whose child he couldn't save from death in the games and helps in whatever way he can.

"Now that is something I couldn't do." Phaon noted.

"I know right! Imagine having to look the families of the dead tribute in the eyes. Creepy."

"It's not creepy, it very brave actually." Phaon defended. Janus noted that Phaon was quick to jump to Eon's defence and wondered if the victor was Phaon's favourite.

Eon was great at helping tributes cope with being sent into a death match. He would mentor a tribute who freaked out at the reaping or a scared tribute well. However, Eon is always able to help tributes with a skill no one can blatantly see, perhaps like reading people or observation skills.

Next to appear was Luz Nilsen, victor of the 100th Hunger Games. He is the oldest mentor of this year's games but certainly one of the most interesting.

He being a Quell winner also makes district 5 the only district to have two quell victors. But Luz's quell twist was horrifying from the clips Janus has seen of it. There wasn't really a reaping and all tributes had to be volunteers.

Each half an hour that passed would earn the district a punishment. After the first half hour there had only been a female volunteer so the district was punished severely.

But Luz had been a daredevil in his youth – and still was. But someone had dared him to volunteer and his pride wouldn't let him accept defeat.

Luz had been well liked by the Capitol which helped him get far into the games. It was his love for an adrenaline rush which got him out of dangerous situations and out of the arena alive.

Janus has always thought that Luz would do well mentoring a quiet tribute, maybe a complete introvert. Either way they would be a good match for Luz's loudness and craziness despite his old age.

On the screen appeared Otto Yates, victor of the 147th Hunger games. The other half to the power couple of the country.

A video played of Rochelle and Otto by their house in District 6 with their children. They always seemed to be a happy family, something Janus could only dream of having.

No one expected Otto and Rochelle to end up together but literally everyone is glad they did.

As the video of the pair's relationship appeared Janus turned up the sound. He was a sucker for sappy love music.

The relationship started with Rochelle winning her games and Otto was head over heels for her.

With the help of some of the other victors he plucked up the courage to ask her out on a date. She's even admitted that she only said yes out of pity but was pleasantly surprised when they got on really well.

Their relationship flourished and they soon became the nation's favourite couple. Unfortunately, with every piece of good press there is always a bad piece following it.

There was always a different story of the two breaking up despite them continuously proving that their relationship was stable and happy.

Now they all live in District 6 with yearly visits to Rochelle's home District.

"Isn't that the cutest story you've ever heard?" Sappho cooed.

"I'm still amazed you didn't spoil this one this time!" Phaon joked.

In the past when Otto has mentored he has connected well with most of his tributes and it hurts him to lose them. A tribute who is selfless and fascinated with the small things in life would connect so well with Otto. It would also destroy him a lot more if they were to die.

District 6's other mentor Clio Barron, victor of the 155th Hunger Games appeared on the screen with a cheery smile.

You'd never know that she has psychosis from her bubbly personality and toothy smiles.

When Clio was reaped and all the way up to the interviews no one had any idea of her condition. During her interview she had an episode and freaked out from her hallucinations.

From then on everyone deemed her as a bloodbath or early death. She exceeded expectations and got to the final 5.

However, she had another episode and again everyone thought she was dead meat. Though, it was her episode which helped her survive as she had one of her strongest hallucinations. It caused her to freak out and accidently kill the tribute sneaking up behind her.

Out of the games Clio does everything she can to promote mental health awareness and it doesn't have to be a weakness.

Her talks are always inspiring and she tries to be as motivating as possible.

By being an optimist allows her to get along with pessimists the most and it the pessimistic tributes which she enjoys working with the most.

"Aw, don't you just love the victors Phaon?"

"Totally! It's a shame we'll have to wait a whole 5 minutes to see the rest."

"Bop us your thoughts on the mentors so far Saphaonrocks while you wait."

Then the screen changed to adverts. Janus let out a frustrated grunt. He hated adverts. They were just a waste of time. They just made him go to the fridge and eat to pass the time.

He had 5 minutes to distract himself from the imploding fear of failure. Instead he continued to pace up and down thinking of every way his plan could go wrong.

 **AN: Prologue number 2! Sorry for the delay, school got a bit hectic. But good news, I finish in 4 days and then I'll have 6 weeks to write. My aim is to finish all of the reapings by September.**

 **I'm going to have a sponsor system because they seem cool. So 5 points for a review and each chapter I'll post a random fun question and the first person to answer correctly will get 5 more points. But I'll start them questions next chapter.**

 **Also, I am extremely grateful to have all spots filled/reserved after only one prologue! Plus the tributes I have received are amazing and I'm pumped to start writing them.**

 **For the tributes I've received for these 6 districts I have incorporated tiny aspects of them into the sections of their mentors. See if you can spot your tributes' hint!**

 **This chapter was going to include all of the mentors but it got a little long lol. But now there should only be two more prologues and then the reapings begin. Fun stuff :D**

 **So, what did you think of this chapter? Any favourite mentors so far? Anything I can work on and improve?**

 **See ya next week :)**


	3. Chapter 3: Mentor Intros Part 2

**Janus Megalos**

 **President of Panem**

The advertisements seemed to go on forever. Janus was sure it had been longer than 5 minutes. Though, when he checked his watch it had been exactly 5 minutes. 5 minutes of doubt and pacing up and down the room.

It was a relief to Janus when he heard the familiar voices of Sappho and Phaon. They briefly recapped the previous mentors but swiftly began with the mentors of district 7.

"Next up is the unforgettable Hesper Resnik."

A picture of the 45 year old man flashed upon the screen, followed by him in a small training room.

Hesper was the first trained outer district volunteer. After the ban on outer districts training tributes had been lifted, most districts had been cautious about training.

However, Hesper had found a small training club and decided to volunteer. This inspired others all over Panem to train and volunteer. Well sometimes. There wasn't as many fully trained outer district tributes as Janus had thought there would be. He guessed it was because there wasn't any funding like there was in 1, 2 and 4.

Despite being trained to kill, Hesper was never bloodthirsty like many careers. He took pride in his accomplishments in the games, but never bragged about them.

One thing that wasn't shown was an incident last year. In which Hesper lashed out at the paparazzi, nearly earning himself in a prison cell overnight. That was when Janus and the rest of Panem had seen a different side to him. An angrier side.

Janus believes that Hesper could connect well with a tribute who is also quite hot headed. They could help each other and relate on a deeper level than usual.

Briefly, a picture of Hesper and his 15 year old daughter appeared. They looked so similar that is was quite remarkable. Janus knew that Hesper would do anything to protect his only child from the games. He hoped she would never be faced with that dilemma.

The image soon faded and was replaced by the other district 7 mentor, Silvan Obando. Victor of the 165th Hunger Games.

It had been 7 years since Silvan had won and Janus still couldn't have a normal conversation with the man. He was very peculiar.

It was evident that the Capitol was disappointed with Silvan's victory. The applauses weren't as loud, nor were the streets upon his victory. Even the ratings dropped significantly that year. They would much rather have had the bloodthirsty career from 2 win.

However, he was much smarter than the career boy. He was able to locate water in a games where water was removed from the sponsor list. It made him stronger each day the other tributes failed to find water. Janus liked that about Silvan.

Silvan was just too weird for the Capitol. He put butter on cookies, ketchup on bread and sandwiches in water. He also believed in a theory of a fictional being attached to each person. It was all he could talk about. In fact he started talking to the fictional being in the games and hasn't stopped since.

Janus knows Silvan would connect well with a kind and peaceful tribute seeing how kind and peaceful he is. If a tribute were to also partake in a unique activity too, it could help him find himself.

Janus noticed how short Sappho and Phaon focused on Silvan. They quickly explained his games and moved on. It wasn't fair. Silvan was a really nice guy, so what he's different?

Next up was Angora Krall of district 8 and victor of the 158th Hunger Games.

Angora was always Janus' grandfather's favourite victor. Most likely because she followed every rule possible and was like a loyal puppy. Janus couldn't care less if she followed every rule perfectly or was always polite. He refused to show favourites in front of the victors. Though it doesn't mean he doesn't have them.

Angora isn't a person one goes to when wanting to have fun. She rarely lets loose, especially during the games period since she takes her mentoring role extremely seriously. As she should.

An interesting part to Angora was the fact she didn't make a single kill in her games. She manipulated her allies to kill. They even maliciously wiped out an alliance of 12 and 13 year olds. In the finale she let the other two tributes fight until they injured one another so fatally that they killed each other.

Janus knows this is the reason she copes the best with the games. She doesn't personally have the blood of someone on her hands.

However, since her 4 year old daughter, Ava came into the world Angora knows manipulating her allies to kill was wrong. She only hopes nothing terrible happens to Ava.

In the past Angora has worked well with friendly tributes. To help Angora mentor, a tribute who brings out the maternal side of her would be perfect. When taking the role of a mother her defences always come down.

The screen changed to an image of Tyria Powell victor of the 166th Hunger Games.

She was reaped alongside her best friend which touched many Capitol citizens. They love a pair of tributes who were connected before the games.

Tyria gained a lot of sponsors. Her games situation was decent until the final 8. Her best friend died in her arms. She would connect well with a tribute who has also lost someone close to them to death. More specifically murder.

Since the death of her best friend, Tyria has created a façade to avoid more heartbreak and bad news. Janus has to admit that it is quite annoying. She is always ignorant to things going on around her. Due to this she refuses to acknowledge any negative surroundings or occurrences.

Janus has no idea how she is going to make herself oblivious to the bad news she's going to receive in less than half an hour. But he knows she will find a way to be naive about it. She will try and lighten the atmosphere too. Janus really hopes she doesn't.

Next was district 9. Jeb Stueck, victor of the 142nd Hunger Games.

"I just know watching this is gonna make me cry. It'll ruin my make up too." Sappho sighed.

"You couldn't make your make up look any worse. Trust me." Phaon joked, earning him a slap on the hand.

During the reapings that year no one took notice of Jeb. He was just another scrawny 16 year old who was predicted to make it to the final 12 and make a stupid mistake resulting in his death.

However, during his interviews he let down his walls and made himself vulnerable. He was admirable during the interviews and Janus will never forget it.

Jeb came out of his shell in his interview but also came out as gay. He explained that he was terrified to come out to his family and felt like a coward doing it how he did. No one thought that and the Capitol was very supportive of him.

After winning it was nice to know that Jeb's parents and siblings were also supportive of him and didn't love him any less. Though it was heart breaking to know that his grandparents did not supportive of him, refusing to ever talk to him again. Even on their death beds.

The television showed Sappho bawling his eyes out and even Phaon shed a few tears. Janus knew that Sappho looked up to Jeb. After all Jeb was the one who inspired him to come out as pansexual.

What the public didn't know was Jeb's battle with anxiety. From a young age he always bottled up his emotions and thoughts and it grew worse after the games. The other victors are there for him whenever he has an anxiety attack – which are usually provoked by the games.

Jeb would be a good mentor for a tribute who is calm and quiet. He would hope to bring them out of their shell and learn more about them.

Next on the screen appeared Kasha Zeni, victor of the 159th Hunger Games.

Since her victory, Kasha became the best models Panem has ever seen. Her looks enabled her to become the model she is and book as many jobs that she has.

However, she hates that everyone likes her purely for her looks. She hates people telling her she's beautiful and pretty. She hates that people think she won her games because of her looks. All she wants someone to do is get to know her personality. Just to like her because she's a sweet caring person and not because she's pretty.

"Did you know that this year Kasha was given the choice to either model or mentor?" Phaon stated.

"And she picked mentoring? Wow that's a shame."

Janus hoped that the victors weren't watching this on their way here. They would be furious at the statement. They all knew that Kasha was very insecure about her modelling. She has no confidence in the way she looks and hates the fact that people think she's perfect.

Janus, Selene and the other victors are the only ones that properly know Kasha and know to never mention her modelling. They genuinely care for her and her personality. Janus makes sure to compliment her personality to boost her confidence and happiness.

Kasha hasn't mentored much since her victory. But Janus thinks she would do well mentoring a dreamer. A tribute who has a lot of optimism while holding a cherished secret would bring out a new side to Kasha.

District 10 was next. The only district to have back to back victors, both of which are recent victors. Being young makes them more relatable to Janus and he likes them a lot. Mostly.

Kelby Lister. Victor of the 169th Hunger Games. Capitol favourite and notorious for bringing 10 back a second victor in two years.

He is also the biggest flirt Janus knows. He will date, fuck, flirt with anyone and anything. If given the opportunity Kelby would probably flirt with a bloody tree.

However, this makes Kelby much more likeable. He's completely egotistical and extroverted. The total opposite to his fellow mentor.

Oh and Kelby is absolutely crazy, always acting on impulse and adrenaline.

The screen showed Kelby in his games being showered with sponsor gifts, one of the main reasons he was able to win. Then flicked back to Sappho and Phaon.

"Man I hope Kelby gets to mentor a crazy and fun tribute this year!" Sappho lilted.

"I'd pay to see that!"

Janus couldn't believe what he was hearing. Are these people out of their minds?

"What are you talking about, you-you delusional idiots! That's a terrible idea that would end in chaos and would be nothing but trouble." Janus shouted at the television.

"If that happens I'm totally getting them both drunk!" Sappho smirked.

Janus was frustrated with the comments so started throwing insults at the TV. These men knew what Kelby was like when drunk so why they would suggest it would be entertaining to make two crazy people drunk he did not know. Janus would rather enter the games than see that interaction. He just hoped that the two hadn't jinxed the situation.

After more stupid scenarios that included dancing and more drinking, the screen finally changed to the next district 10 mentor.

Peyton Muirs. Victor of the 170th Hunger Games. Seems to hate Kelby with a passion and no one know why, especially since he brought Peyton back victorious and alive. Also makes it his goal in life to disagree with everything Kelby says.

Janus hasn't figured Peyton out yet. He's quite childish and immature. Always sulking if he doesn't get his way and has to be the pettiest person alive.

He would do well mentoring someone who is quite adventurous. Probably a little crazy. It might help him lighten up and stop acting so immature. What Janus would love is if the tribute too was stubborn and childish. It would give Peyton a taste of his own medicine. Janus could only help that both of the 10 tributes this year want to be allies just so Peyton and Kelby are forced to work together. Maybe Janus will be able to uncover what happened between the two of them.

Something must have happened between the two district 10 mentors and Janus really wants to know. As does the rest of Panem.

Peyton's games briefly played on the screen. Janus noticed that Peyton didn't receive a single sponsor gift during the whole games – not even during the feast! Very odd.

Janus didn't have much time to think about this as the first district 11 mentor appeared on the screen. Clove Urquhart, victor of the 109th Hunger Games.

There was hesitation to talk about Clove and it was understandable.

Clove is a woman who loves nature and her love for it has grown with age. Since winning her games, Clove has studied nature and learnt a lot from it.

She has the attitude of everything happens for a reason, no matter how brutal. Somehow she still this attitude after being diagnosed with breast cancer a week ago.

It was a shock to the whole country and everyone but Clove seemed to be devastated. She was adamant this was all happening for a reasons and refuses to have lifesaving treatment. Instead she paid for cancer treatment and let one of the kids in 11 use the treatment instead.

Being 80 and having cancer was enough to cause protests all throughout the country to have Clove relieved of her mentoring duties so she can rest and make the most of her time left.

However, district 11 only has two living victors and Janus was torn. He couldn't leave an 88 year old man with the pressures of mentoring two tributes. Ultimately he left the decision to Clove and she wanted to mentor. She wouldn't let anyone talk her out of it.

Still, Janus gets hate for this situation in the press and in his mail. Clove has announced that it was completely her decision which Janus was grateful for. But he would still feel so much guilt if her condition deteriorated because of the stress this year.

"We know that Clove is strong and we wish her tribute the best of luck this year. Hopefully a kid who's understanding and knows what it's like to suffer pain – be rejected for being who they were. It would brighten Clove if she could help a kid. Even if they weren't to survive it would help her if she were able to help them in their final days."

Next on the screen appeared Quinn Guerra. Victor of the 99th Hunger Games.

In his first few years of mentoring Quinn worked so hard to bring back a victor. His efforts seemed to be for nothing because it wasn't even him who brought home Clove. From then on he gave up. He only spend time on tributes he deemed worthy and had a potential to win. After a while it didn't hurt as much when he lost a kid.

It has turned him into a grumpy old man. He doesn't try to hide his bad moods and doesn't talk to many people. Even with the victors, to him it's a struggle to talk to them. He mostly grunts in response to things.

Quinn has one friendship that he cherishes dearly. That is his friendship with Clove. He has a soft spot for her so her diagnosis hurt him even more.

He knows that she's physically getting worn out and vows to do something to help. He's promised her that he will try 100% to get his tribute this year back home. He will put all of his effort into getting a victor so Clove can rest and not have to worry about 11 not having a second mentor.

Janus worried that soon district 11 may not have any living victor, with Clove's cancer and Quinn's old age. He really hoped Quinn could get a tribute home.

Soon district 12 was up. And first was Blaise Teague, victor of the 124th Hunger Games. Also known as the luckiest tribute ever.

Janus did think that Blaise did have some luck but wouldn't call Blaise's victory luck. There were some strategical moves from him which resulted in him winning.

Blaise made history by being the youngest victor and the only person to ever win the hunger games at the age of 12.

The arena had extreme weather conditions throughout the games and its how a lot of tributes died. When it snowed some died from hypothermia, during the scorching conditions Blaise was sponsored water while other tributes died of dehydration.

Blaise had surprised everyone by making it past the first day let alone making the finale. That's where the weather conditions really played to his advantage.

There were tornadoes and strong winds which sent trees flying everywhere. Including into one of Blaise's competitors. Somehow the last remaining tribute standing in the way of Blaise's victory was injured, resulting in him being the stronger one.

Many were speechless upon his victory and put it down to the luck of the arena and single sponsor gift. Blaise didn't care though. He was just happy to be alive.

Blaise warmed his was into the hearts of Panem by being himself. His sweet and caring self.

He is aromantic but wanted to make a change in the world. Blaise updated and paid to have district 12's orphanage rebuilt. He also adopted 3 children so they wouldn't have to face a lonely life in the orphanage. They are all grown up now but Blaise already has 2 grandchildren.

Blaise would work well with a tribute who needs some sort of help. Who hasn't adjusted to life yet and maybe has had both bad luck and good luck in their lifetime. Blaise has always said he would like to mentor a 12 year old and prove that 12 year olds can win and him winning wasn't a fluke.

The final mentor to be shown was Scoria Jepson. Victor of the 151st Hunger Games. Also the President of district 12's pride festival. Which happens to be Panem's second best festival – second only to the Capitol's pride.

Because of Scoria everyone wants to be a part of district 12's pride. She changed the scepticism of undergoing a sex change.

Scoria was born a boy. With a name she refuses to acknowledge and associate with.

When reaped she didn't bother to express her true self. There were two main reasons for this: one, she hadn't fully figured out who she was yet and two because she was adamant she was going to die.

However, the days went by in the arena and Scoria was still alive. She was shocked she was still alive but wouldn't get her hopes up.

Obviously Scoria won and looking back she vows that a part of her wasn't satisfied with living 16 years in a boys body. Her true self was underneath fighting to win and finally live freely.

After her victory, Scoria announced she was undergoing a sex change to become a woman. She was so overwhelmed by the support and positive response of the districts and the Capitol that she wanted to do something in return.

Thus pride in the districts was introduced. It had been introduced in the Capitol many years ago but never made its way to the districts.

Scoria wanted everyone in the districts to feel part of the LGBTQ+ community too and asked her fellow victors to help with pride every year. It is one of the most anticipated events of the year. Even though everyone wishes they could go to either the Capitol or district 12's pride.

Scoria has been a great mentor over the years. She would do particularly well mentoring an optimistic, witty tribute. But at the same time she would want to feel like she was making a difference to the tribute and they would need to be dependent on her and her advice.

Sappho and Phaon closed the show with even more corny jokes but also whacky predictions for this year's arena layout. But when the show was over Janus switched the TV off and was left in the same situation he was in before the show. A nervous wreck.

Janus couldn't wait any longer. He just wanted to explain his plan to the key people involved in it. There was many ways this meeting could go and he could only hope it was somewhat beneficial.

If they wouldn't help him then the only thing left would be surrendering. Janus couldn't betray his people like that. His grandfather would be disappointed. He would not let himself disappoint his grandfather.

Finally there was a knock on the door. Janus opened it to be faced with Selene and the 24 mentors for this year. It was time for the meeting which would decide the fate of Panem.

 _Well, here goes nothing._

 **A.N: Yay, a chapter I did not expect to have time to write! Hope you liked it because there's one more prologue chapter until the reapings begin. I am very sorry in advance if there are any grammatical or structural errors in this chapter because it's currently 2am and my proof reading was not very efficient.**

 **I probably should have said this earlier but I am creating a blog for this story. It is all ready to be published apart from the 4 tributes whose forms I haven't received yet. Obviously I would like to get the blog out with the next chapter but I totally understand that life can be stressful and that comes before fanfiction. Plus I'm a patient person so I don't mind waiting until the first reapings to post the blog.**

 **For the tributes I do have forms for I again included hints of them in this chapter. See if you can spot your tributes' hint.**

 **Which mentor(s) in this chapter were your favourite? And out of all of them who is your favourite mentor?**

 **I said last chapter that I would do random questions for more sponsor points. So here is the question of the chapter. I'll start off easy, this is worth 5 extra sponsor points.**

 **QOTC: Who is the Roman god of war?**

 **Until next time!**


	4. Chapter 4: The Meeting

**Janus Megalos**

 **President of Panem**

"You want to what!?"

"What the hell Janus!"

"Are you out of your mind?"

"Wait, you're being serious?"

Well that reaction was a lot better than he had expected. Janus thought he would have multiple wounds by now. But the shouting, that he could handle.

A piercing sound cut through the air which made Janus and the other victors clutch their ears. Everyone looked toward Selene who had a whistle in her mouth. As soon as everyone's eyes were on her she went a deep shade of red.

"Thanks Selene. Now please can you just let me-" Janus started but was quickly interrupted.

"Janus. This is so random, you can't expect us to do this. Especially to the careers, who have been _trained_ to kill." Netta interjected.

This statement earned him a stern look from Selene. Janus hadn't been entirely honest with the victors. He'd just told them his plan and not the reasons why he needed the ludicrous plan in the first place.

Selene was the one who wanted to tell the victors about the life threatening crisis the country was in. However, Janus didn't want the victors to have to worry about it. They already had the lives of fallen tributes on their conscience. They didn't need to worry about the lives of the whole country too.

Janus had just wanted to tell them the plan in hopes they would eventually agree without any questions asked. But he knew he had to tell them everything.

He explained how there actually were countries and life outside of Panem. That the countries that were thought to be non-existent, did in fact exist. How they were all tired of watching the Hunger Games and watching kids die everywhere.

"You know there's an easy solution. Just stop the games." Clio stated. Obviously Janus had considered this. In fact he'd rather live in a world without the Hunger Games. But he knew it wasn't possible.

"I can't. Everyone's finally gotten used to the games. To get rid of them now would ruin everyone's way of life. Not to mention the chaos that would happen if people found out I was lying about other countries existing."

"I hate to say it but Janus is right. We can't afford chaos when there's finally peace in the districts." Otto defended.

Janus continued. As he told the victors about the declaration of war there was silence and no one dared to speak. He made sure to emphasise the one positive about the situation. That there were still 5 countries that could sign.

"As long as Russia don't sign then the rest of the world can't attack. They won't have the advanced weapons they need." Selene piped up.

Some of the victors looked speechless. Others were still processing the information. While others didn't know what to say.

Velvet was the first to break the silence, "Wait, explain the plan again."

So he did.

Janus wanted the tributes of the 172nd Hunger Games to have two extra days of training. In those two days there would be mandatory stations in which all tributes are to participate.

The tributes would be trained to kill in a way that wouldn't actually kill a tribute. It would just seem like the tribute was dead.

The Game makers would sound the canon and hopefully other tributes would leave the body. The 'dead' tribute would have minutes left of life. In that time an expert team would extract living cells and red blood cell.

"What's the point?" Ciman asked.

Selene took the lead on the question. "Well, we'd develop the cells and place them in a special incubator. After a few weeks could have a whole army of artificial humans."

Janus saw confused and blank faces staring back at him. So he explained how advanced technology had become in the past 5 years. There was a machine that could develop a teenager in two weeks. Just from a single zygote which rapidly grows into an embryo and continues growing at a rapid pace.

The cells extracted from the fallen tribute would have fighting instincts embedded into the DNA. They use that particular DNA to basically program the artificial human.

It's not complicated. Only expensive. But Janus would rather spend a lot of money to have these artificial soldiers fight and die instead of the people living in his country.

"Aren't they technically humans though? Surely that's unethical." Someone called.

Janus made sure he crafted his reply carefully. Yes, they would have human cells but they wouldn't really have the mind like a human. They were essentially robots programmed to fight. But in a human body of course.

He knew it was unethical but ultimately, it was the only choice they had.

"Will the tribute whose cells are extracted be revived? Or will doctors at least _try_ to save them?" Kelby asked.

"No."

The room erupted in a series of shouts, curses and water throwing. After a minute Janus was soaked, and he was sure he saw a glass fly past him. He tried his best to calm everyone down.

"So you're just doing to kill them?"

"Yes."

Once again the room erupted in a chorus of shouts. Though, Janus could understand why they were upset. It tore him up inside knowing he could save the tribute but was choosing to let them die.

"Can't you modify their features? Like the Capitolites do?"

"It's too risky. We can't afford them trying to contact friends or family." Selene replied.

Everyone looked dejected. And in all honesty Janus felt dejected that there was no other way. Then he saw Peyton stand up.

"I say we do it. Train the tributes to take a killer shot without them knowing it's a killing shot. But we, as mentors have help too. We have to teach them to 'kill' this way too."

Everyone looked at him like he was crazy. The young victor didn't seem to care. He was too focused on his glaring contest with Kelby, who did not look happy.

"You're just saying this to disagree with me!" Kelby exploded.

"No I'm not." The younger 10 victor struggled to hide his lie. It was obvious he just wanted to disagree with his former mentor.

"God. You're so immature!"

It took exactly 6 victors to stop Peyton from killing Kelby. And 12 minutes to calm everyone down.

"Peyton's right. 23 is a smaller number than the population of Panem." Modemia stated.

Gradually the other victors started nodding. They realised that this was the only way as few people died as possible.

Janus sighed in relief. Then began to show the victors a map of Panem, with rough paths the soldiers would take to get to sea without being noticed. Janus had also tried to estimate places where battles would take place. He just hoped the world wouldn't target civilians because Janus certainly wasn't going to.

"What about the careers? They've been trained to kill a certain way from 10 years old." Rochelle asked, clutching her husband's so much that it had turned white.

"That's why I need your help. I need you, all of you to somehow convince your tributes to kill like this. But you cannot tell them the reason why. "

Janus was about to thank the victors and let them go back to their hotel when Selene's tablet started beeping like mad. He rushed toward her and peered over her shoulder.

The words he read made him want to throw up. Selene actually did throw up. Then she broke down in hysterics. Even Janus started crying while trying to console her.

"Janus what is it?"

"Russia. They just signed the declaration. The whole world has just declared war on us. We have two months two surrender or they attack."

The room was so silent you could hear a pin drop. And then someone spoke.

"We can do this. The games should take less than a month with everything involved. Then we have four weeks to grow the soldiers. We can do this. "

This restored some hope in Janus. Maybe they could win after all.

As the victors started to leave Janus called over Scoria.

"Janus, what's up?"

"I am so sorry about that newspaper article. I tried to stop its publication but I was too late."

The previous week one of the Capitol's most popular newspaper companies wrote an article about Scoria which was offensive and incorrect.

Scoria identified as a transwoman but they proceeded to use her dead name and refer to her using male pronouns.

Yes, Scoria may have competed in her games under the slot of the male tribute but she was a woman and did not feel comfortable identifying as male. Janus wanted people to understand this.

The article had no respect for any member of the LGBT community. Janus knew he had to take action so he fired the person who wrote the article and the person who approved it. He made the newspaper company issue an apology article the following day. Also, he made the two people write personal apologies to Scoria.

"Don't worry it's fine." She replied.

"No. No it's not."

"People just don't learn about different genders or transgender men and women or gender fluid people. The LGBT+ community experience misconceptions and offensive terms all the time. Even if it is accidental." Scoria smiled sadly.

Janus realised then that he himself didn't know a lot about the LGBT+ community. And that was a problem.

"Well let's change that!" He said.

When he was met with a confused look he explained what he meant.

"We'll make lessons about the LGBT community mandatory in every school. People need to be educated about it, why not start with the future generation? Help kids everywhere to be considerate and not accidently say something that's incorrect. And why don't you write an article. Maybe confronting misconceptions about the LGBT community. I'll get it published."

Scoria engulfed Janus in a hug and whisper a thank you. She soon left leaving just Janus and Selene.

"Are you sure you can handle this many jobs?" His assistant asked.

"I have to. But it's all good cos I've got you to help me." Janus smiled.

The two went out to get burgers for dinner. Selene argued that the shop served the best burgers the Capitol had to offer. They were mediocre at best.

After they began setting up the incubator's which would be ready for use in a week's time.

 **A.N: First of all I would like to apologise for my phrasing of Scoria, the district 12 mentor, in the previous chapter. It wasn't intentional and I'm if anything I said came off as offensive. To clear the air I wrote this little scene in the chapter. If I use terms incorrectly or offensively in any way please tell me because I'm still learning about the LGBT+ community. I do have many tributes part of the LGBT community in this story so at any time please correct me.**

 **But I hope you enjoyed this chapter! It was the final prologue for this story and next up are the Reapings, starting with district 1. Unfortunately, I can't share the blog today because I'm still waiting for two tributes. One of which is the district 1 female so as soon as I get their forms I will begin the reapings.**

 **Also, I realise that most of the plan is completely impossible and biologically incorrect. But this is fiction and I think it would be pretty cool if we could actually do that. It'll be fun to explore.**

 **How did you like the chapter? Do you think the plan will work? Or will the outside world succeed?**

 **QOTC: Which British King believed he was a descendant of Banquo?**


	5. Chapter 5: D1 Intros

**Extravagance Rouge**

 **18 years old**

 **District 1 Male**

"You ready for this?"

"Sweetheart, I was born ready." Extravagance smirked.

In reality it had taken months for his friend, Tiffany to convince him to move in with her. Despite everything his father was and still is, the house reminded him of him mother. A huge part of him wanted to cling onto the happy memories he had there.

Eventually she made him see sense. He couldn't live in a house with more toxic memories than positive. So he decided to start over. That began with changing his name from Emerald Banks to Extravagance Rouge. Finally Extravagance could be himself.

Extravagance opened the door to his new house. Yes, it was small, stuffy and worn down. But that didn't matter because in a few months he would be victor of the 172nd Hunger Games. As well as Panem's hot, fresh, new actor.

With his victors house and wealth he and Tiffany could live the lives they deserve. After all, he owed Tiffany his life.

He engulfed his friend in a hug. For now that was the only way he could thank her. The rest would come later.

Sprinting up the stairs two at a time, Extravagance found his bedroom. He plopped his case on the bed and begun to unpack.

Tiffany appeared behind him with a huge smile on her face. But also with a box in her hands. She gestured for him to take it.

"I should be the one giving you a present." Extravagance chuckled.

Once he opened the box his jaw dropped. Words caught in his throat. He pulled out the pastel purple dress and held it up against himself in the mirror.

"Itt-It's beautiful." He chocked.

Tiffany's smile brightened. "I thought you could wear it for your interview."

"Definitely."

Extravagance finished unpacking, making sure to put his new dress in a dress bag to protect it.

"Hey, Tiff. I need to go out but I'll get fish and chips for dinner?"

After she had called back a response, Extravagance found himself heading toward his special spot in the woods. It reminded him of the bad years of his life.

Extravagance propped himself against a tree and just listened to the sounds around him.

He remembered all of the times he would come here to be alone and cry without being punished for it. He remembered coming here when he realised he was gay and a cross dresser and thought he was abnormal for being so.

Despite it being a place for him to come and be sad, it was a place he could never forget. How could he forget the place where he considered ending his life?

However, it was also here where he hoped and begged for some light in his life.

Somehow, the universe had heard him and presented him with Tiffany. The girl who helped him through everything. The girl who made him remember his dream to be a superstar.

Being a cancer survivor herself, Tiffany knew first-hand what his mother had been through. But she was alive and had the scars to prove it.

Together they vowed to change the views on abnormalities, in a district where appearance was everything.

Soon it started getting dark and Extravagance decided it was time for dinner.

On his way to the fish and chip shop he noticed two of his fellow trainees locking lips. Extravagance smirked, that would be a very fun story to tell Tiffany later.

 **Tangent Grace**

 **18 years old**

 **District 1 Female**

At breakfast Tangent had her trigonometry textbook open as she was scoffing down her cereal. It was something her family was used to by now. But an outsider looking in would think it was different and unique for a district 1 girl to be reading from a maths book.

After, she trudged upstairs to get ready for school. Whist Tangent brushed her hair, she realised that her blonde roots were starting to show. She huffed in annoyance. She would definitely have to get her hair done before the reaping. There was no way Tangent was going to look like a blonde bimbo when she volunteered for the games.

Today Tangent had all of her best subjects: Math, Physics, and Psychology. However, when packing her bag she couldn't find her maths book anywhere.

"Hey, Earnest. What did you do with my trig book?"

"Why are you asking me?" Her older brother called back.

"Well, who's the only one in the house who's _still_ salty about not being the chosen volunteer?"

Two years ago Earnest was one of the main contenders to be the volunteer for the 170th Hunger Games. He was eliminated in the final round. But to this day he is always moaning about it.

Some would say Earnest was jealous of his younger sister. However, Tangent knew the truth. Her brother loved her and was genuinely happy for her.

"I am not salty. Plus I didn't take your stupid textbook."

Finally, Tangent found it. She had left it on the dining table and forgot. Honestly, she felt like a total ditz. And she hated that feeling.

Walking into school, Tangent kept her head down. She didn't want to see blonde after blonde. It reminded her that she was born like that.

As she entered the physics classroom, Tangent noticed that the title on the board read 'Circuitry'. Immediately, Tangent's face and mood brightened.

Word had obviously gotten around that she was the chosen volunteer. But Tangent had no idea that people already knew her preferred weapons. It made her smile. People knew she wasn't going to be a stereotypical volunteer for One.

During the lesson, Tangent focused all of her attention on the teacher and the notes. In all honesty, she was bored to death by circuitry. But at the same time it excited her. No one would expect her to be knowledgeable in circuitry.

Halfway through the class she felt a tap on her shoulder. Annoyed to be disrupted, she turned around. Only to be face to face with three gorgeous, blonde, blue eyed girls.

"Erm…hi?"

"Oh yeah. Congrats on being the volunteer." One of the girls said way too enthusiastically.

Tangent didn't know what to reply other than "Thank you."

"But we were wondering. Why are you using darts and circuits? Why not use knives like most district 1 girls?"

By now the whole class – including the teacher – were listening. Curious.

"Well I'm best with darts and circuits so why not use them? I'm just different." Tangent spoke quickly and turned back to her notes.

However, she knew what she had said was an outright lie. She would always use darts and circuit _because_ it made her different. She was sure that if she had even tried to practise with knives more, she would be ten times better with them than circuits.

Luckily, Tangent was actually good with darts and circuits. She was going to make sure she was remembered. Not for being victor of the 172nd Hunger Games. But for breaking the blonde, ditzy stereotype of district 1.

 **A.N: Oops this is gonna be a long AN. So firstly thank you to paperairline for Extravagance and AmericanPi for Tangent. I had so much fun writing these two.**

 **What are your thoughts on these two tributes? Anything in particular that stood out to you?**

 **Basically, my biggest fear for this SYOT is not writing tributes correctly or getting something incorrect. Please do PM if there's something about your character that I've written incorrectly or you don't like so I can change it for future chapters.**

 **However, I'm going to say this now, each tribute's intro POV will be different lengths. It's not because I prefer certain tributes or biased toward any. It just depends on how much of their personality and background I want to reveal in the intros and how much I want to reveal later on in the story.**

 **Also, school's started again and this year is probably one of my most important. I'll be super busy revising (I mean it's been 5 days and I've already failed 2 Spanish tests XD). Therefore, I can't promise a regular updating schedule. But I am hoping to finish all of the intros by Christmas.**

 **Oh, I nearly forgot. The blog is nearly ready to go. I'm just waiting for a final form and then I can post the link. It will 100% be ready for the district 2 intros. :D**

 **Anyway, QOTC: Which planet in our solar system is the furthest away from the sun?**


	6. Chapter 6: D2 Intros

**Tarquin Corvin**

 **17 years old**

 **District 2 Male**

Tarquin entered the training centre with a smirk on his face and a skip in his step. In less than an hour everyone would know who district 2's volunteers would be.

He could only hope it was him. After all he was only 17 and made it to the final three. That was impressive considering the strength and competitiveness of the trainees in the centre. On the bright side, Tarquin always had next year to be the chosen volunteer as well. But Tarquin knew he was ready now.

All Tarquin needed to do was pass the time until the announcement. Out of the corner of his eye he saw some of the people he usually trained with. They invited Tarquin to sit with them.

However, as he began to approach them, Tarquin noticed that Aelia Stafford was sitting in the group. Immediately he changed his mind. There was no way he was going to socialise with her. He'd managed to avoid her for 2 years. He wasn't going to stop now.

Instead, Tarquin sat with his competition for the volunteer position. Both boys were a year older than him and were amazing.

The two boys, Kane and Herakles were having a debate about women in the workplace. It was evident neither knew what they were talking about.

Kane, the stronger of the two thought that men and women were treated equally in the workplace. It was common knowledge that female peacekeepers got paid half the amount male peacekeepers did. It wasn't fair. But Herakles, the more attractive of the two argued that there was no way women were ever going to be treated equally in the workplace. There was so many people stuck in the habits of the past that there could be no change.

Personally, Tarquin think that woman deserved equal pay and to be treated equally in the workplace. But Tarquin wanted a bit of fun. That is the exact reason he said to Herakles,

"So you think that women deserve to be paid less? And treated badly?"

Tarquin watched shock take over Herakles. The older boy became quite flustered and didn't know what to say.

"I, erm-"

"Times are changing. The old people are dying. So why can't we join together to change the present? If we can legalise same sex marriage here, then why can't we campaign for equal pay?"

Tarquin was impressed with himself. He thought of all of that off the top of his head. But it was fun to watch Herakles become even more uncomfortable and shift in his seat.

"I never said that." The older boy muttered.

Before Tarquin could take things further Kaya Ellis and Dax Demos stepped out of the office. They had made their decision and he was nervous. If he became the volunteer, Tarquin could make his father proud.

Dax spoke first. "This year was an extremely tough decision seeing as we had two strong age groups to choose from."

"C'mon Dax, get on with it." Kaya sighed.

"Right. Yes. So the male tribute I will be mentoring this year is… Tarquin Corvin."

Tarquin couldn't believe it. He was going into the games. He could finally make his father proud. Tarquin had to be the one to do that since his snobby mother left them both.

He almost missed Kaya's announcement of the girl who would be going into the games. "… Aelia Stafford."

Well that wasn't good.

On his journey home, Tarquin had a lot to think about. Both positive and negative. He was ecstatic that all of the tough love and constant encouragement was worth it. But he did not want to go into the games with Aelia. The chances of them going into the same games was so low, how could it have happened?

 _I should have expected the unexpected_

His house was eerily quiet when he arrived. His father, Hannibal was making dinner silently. As soon as Tarquin closed the door, he heard his father's eager voice from the kitchen.

"So son? What happened?"

"I did it dad. I did it. I'm district 2's male tribute for the 172nd Hunger Games."

The statement was followed by a series of victorious shouts from his father. He was even engulfed in a tight hug.

"I knew you could do it. What about the female volunteer?"

Tarquin muttered the name quietly, hoping his father wouldn't hear.

"Speak up son, I can't hear you."

"Aelia Stafford."

Tarquin watched as a series of emotions took over his father's face. After a few minutes his father finally spoke.

"Make sure you take little Miss Aelia out son. She's your mother's pride and joy. A mother who never wanted you, but treasures her. Bring that woman pain like she brought pain to us."

Great. Now Tarquin would have to kill his own sister to make his father proud and his mother distraught. A sister who didn't even know Tarquin was her brother.

 **Aelia Stafford**

 **18 years old**

 **District 2 Female**

It had been two months since Aelia had found out that she was the chosen volunteer for the 172nd Hunger Games. Two months since everyone around her had started acting weird.

First there was her mother. She was so proud of her daughter when she found out she was chosen. But five minutes later she was being weird and trying to get her to change her mind. Aelia didn't get it but she guessed it was just nerves.

Then there was her district partner. When they were young trainees they talked sometimes but there was a point a few years ago where Tarquin avoided her at all costs. Since finding out they were the chosen volunteers he still hasn't made the effort to talk to her.

All Aelia wants is to be a part of a career pack that she can rely on. But also make smart and well thought out plans to be the best they can be.

Also, she wants one person that she can count on in the alliance because everyone knows that the careers can turn on each other in a heartbeat. Aelia needs someone who she can trust until the end. Surely that should be her district partner?

Tarquin not talking to her was starting to make her really anxious. How could she make her family proud if she couldn't even trust her own district partner?

On top of all off this, Aelia hasn't been able to talk to Kaya about tactics or strategies yet. She just didn't want to disturb the woman. As she was surely busy preparing for the games.

It was dinner time when Aelia was leaving the training centre so there wasn't many people left. Again, she hadn't talked to Kaya about tactics which stressed her out even further.

After getting her coat from her locker, Aelia noticed Tarquin practising with spears. She really wanted to talk to him about tactics for the games; to see if they could have some sort of promise to stick together until the end. But as soon as she stepped in his direction he turned away and put headphones in.

Quickly, Aelia grabbed her stuff and walked home. Why wouldn't he just talk to her?

She arrived home to paghetti bolognese on the table. It smelt so good. Plus it was her dad, Amicus who made it so it was sure to be delicious. Yet Aelia still couldn't let it go that Tarquin refused to talk to her.

At the dinner table, every conversation topic about the games was changed by her mother. But the games was all Aelia could think about. She was determined to win and at the moment Tarquin was in her way.

Also, Aelia couldn't shake off the feeling that there was something missing from her life. She had felt like that for a while now but decided it was probably the games that was missing. Once she was in that arena she would feel complete. Those moments in the arena would be the best of her life. She just had to wait.

What Aelia couldn't wait for was finding someone she could trust. She needed to know if that person was going to be Tarquin or if she would have to make a plan to find someone else to trust.

Leaving half a bowl of spaghetti, Aelia grabbed her coat and opened the door.

"Where are you going at this time?" Her mother asked.

"Training centre." And then she slammed the door.

Aelia was glad her intuitions were right. Tarquin was still here, going around the agility course. He barely blinked an eye when she walked in. She was prepared to stand up for herself.

She marched over to him with all of the determination she had, which was actually a lot, and stood right in front of him, not letting him pass.

He rolled his eyes and took out his headphones. But there was a nervous glint in his eyes.

"What do you-"

"Nope. You're going to listen to me and you're not going to speak. Tarquin, you have not spoken to me at all since we were chosen. And whenever I've tried you've turned the other way or put in those bloody headphones. It's so rude, and avoiding me for two frickin' years, yeah that was rude too. I have no idea what happened with you but I sure know it wasn't me. I need someone in that arena that I can trust. Someone that will fight with me to the end. And I'm sure you do too. It's your choice. But let me know now because I will find somebody else. But don't you dare continue avoiding me because I promise you'll regret it. Get a grip and sort out your problems because they'll get you killed in that arena."

Aelia felt so powerful after that speech. But the silence that followed made her stress levels shoot up. After a minute Aelia had her answer as Tarquin cast his eyes downward and put one of his headphones in.

"I guess I have my answer then." Aelia said confidently and turned toward the door.

She had to admit that it hurt that he didn't want to talk to her despite her doing absolutely nothing. But she was walking out feeling proud of herself for standing up to him. Never in a million years would she have thought she'd get the confidence to do that. It was definitely a change from her usual shy self.

"Wait."

Aelia was nearly out the door when she heard the boy speak. She turned around to be face to face with Tarquin who seemed to be having an internal battle with himself.

"I accept your offer. But we need to be tactful. We should only tell our mentors about our plan. Do not tell your parents. The other careers won't see us as a threat together if we don't talk in public. They won't know what hits them." Tarquin smirked.

Aelia laughed. Actually laughed. "That's the most you've spoken to me in two years."

She left the centre feeling satisfied and ready for the games.

 **A.N: Yayy another chapter. Thank you so much to HogwartsDreamer113 for both Tarquin and Aelia. I enjoyed writing them both so much.**

 **Let me know your thoughts on the tributes. Which one did you prefer? Is there anything I can do to improve?**

 **I'm very happy to share the link to the blog for this story. I know it's not the best blog ever but I had so much fun making it :) Hopefully the link works lol.**

 **camouflagehg . weebly**

 **QOTC: Which galaxy is closest to our solar system?**


	7. Chapter 7: D3 Intros

**Duplo Cone**

 **18 years old**

 **District 3 Male**

Duplo Cone didn't have a problem with his life. Who would when they were popular, smart and funny? Plus, those who didn't like him didn't matter. Duplo still had friends he could hang out with and trust.

It was also his last year being eligible for the Hunger Games. After the reapings Duplo could stop attending school and fully concentrate on climbing the ranks in his parents' manufacturing plant. Surely, if his siblings could become factory managers, he could too.

However, what Duplo was really interested in was manufacturing the products. Just manipulating different metals and plastics into great things excited the boy.

But for now, Duplo was on his way to school. Despite only going to school for half a day and the other half learning more from his parent's factory, Duplo just wanted to be working in the factory all the time.

Turning the corner, Duplo saw his friends sitting on the bench and the grass around it. All 5 of his closest friends: Current, Pix, Chip, Dexter and Linus. Obviously, they were only a small handful of the people who considered him a great guy and a friend but he enjoyed their company. Not to mention all of the other people at school who loved him. It was great because there was always someone talking to him.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Duplo asked.

"Not much. But I was thinking…" Pix started.

"Nothing good ever comes of that." Duplo joked. It earned him chuckles from everyone, including Pix. Really, everyone probably laughed because they knew Duplo was popular and who wouldn't want to be his friend? Plus Duplo knew that he actually was a funny guy.

A few minutes later Duplo noticed Al walking down the path. Al was a little overweight as was the rest of his family. But Al was relatively liked by everyone as he was a genuinely nice guy.

Duplo thought the guy was alright but it was evident that Al didn't like him. Apparently he didn't find Duplo funny – which was ridiculous.

When Al walked by, a thought came into Duplo's mind. A thought that his friends would probably find hilarious. It was quite mean but he figured that it could boost his popularity.

"Hey Al, come over here. So I've figured something out. The problem isn't that obesity runs in your family. The problem is no one runs in your family."

Al was not impressed in the slightest. But his friends. Well they were in hysterics.

"What the hell. You're not at all funny. But you Duplo Cone, are gonna get slapped by karma sometime soon." Al fumed and stormed off.

So maybe Duplo shouldn't have been so mean but he was just living up to his name of the jokester. Plus he had to keep his popularity up.

"Duplo, your stalker's on her way over." Current laughed.

Duplo rolled his eyes so much he was surprised they didn't fall out of his head. On her way over was Margit Amperon. Aka district 3's most annoying stalker.

"Hi Duplo!" She said way too cheerfully.

This caused his friends to snicker. However, he noticed Margit's best friend, Wiress a few feet away snickering too. He wondered what was up with that but dismissed it.

"Margit, what world are you in this time?" Duplo said, noticing the girl was already starting to become caught up in her own imagination.

"Huh? I'm on our world silly. You know, mars. The planet we live on."

Duplo couldn't believe this girl sometimes. She was weird and very unintelligent. All he could do was make fun of her so she would leave him alone. It never worked, instead she would just follow him but not talk.

"Well, I'm going to class now." Duplo stated, leaving the girl behind.

 _Two more months Duplo. Only two more months until you can drop out of school._

 **Margit Amperon**

 **17 years old**

 **District 3 Female**

The day of the reaping was never of importance to Margit. She never listened to anything that was said. It was just a day where she could live in her head without being punished for it.

Every year she met her best friend, Wiress an hour beforehand. However, this year she was late. Margit didn't mind, for the past year Wiress had been late to a lot of stuff. Sometimes, she didn't even show up.

After 10 minutes, her best friend showed up, looking a mess.

"You don't have perfume do you Margit?"

"Yeah. It's my last bottle."

Margit handed the girl her perfume but Wiress just put it into her bag. It didn't matter. Her best friend meant everything to her and she could always save up for another 4 months to buy another bottle.

Together they walked to the town square. Wiress would initiate conversations with other people while Margit daydreamed about her crush – Duplo Cone. She hadn't talked to him much but she really liked him.

Suddenly, hands grasped her shoulders and she stood face to face with her parents.

"Margit, why didn't you tell us you left? We were worried sick."

"Sorry. I forgot. I won't do it again."

In reality, it was likely Margit would do it again. Especially since this was the 6th time in a week she hadn't told her parents she was going out. She's just gets distracted and preoccupied.

Her parents tend to worry about her a lot but Margit doesn't mind it too much. She loves them and knows they're just looking out for her.

"Good luck honey." Her mother said, giving her a big hug. Margit had no idea why her parents were wishing her luck.

Soon the two girls arrived at the town square. But due to Wiress' lateness, they were stuck at the back of a very long queue. This time Margit travelled to a place of peace and calm. She felt like she was floating in the clouds.

The calm was interrupted by Wiress jabbing her violently in the ribs. When Margit returned to reality, she noticed Duplo Cone and his friends behind them in the line. She started blushing furiously.

Margit tried to talk to him and get his attention but he kept whispering and laughing to his friends. It didn't bother her, after the reaping she would pull him aside and have a proper conversation with the older boy.

As her thumb was pricked, Margit couldn't help but notice how white her skin looked compared to the crimson blood.

This had really fascinated Margit and when the vibrant woman skipped on stage and played the video, all she could think about was exciting adventures she could have if she were a vampire.

She was looking at her red finger when she heard her name. But why would someone be calling her name?

"Do we have Margit Amperon anywhere?" The vibrant woman on stage boomed. After this she also heard screams from the back which sounded an awful lot like her parents.

Wiress started pushing Margit into the aisle which only confused her more.

"Wait. What's happening?"

"Just go on the stage, Margit." Wiress sighed.

Margit did what she was told and went up onto the stage. She was very confused but the vibrant woman was friendly and calmed her unease.

"Next we have the boys… Duplo Cone."

Both Margit's and Duplo's eyebrows shot up but for different reasons. Margit smiled. She was confident that she would have a conversation with Duplo after the reaping and this vibrant woman ensured that she would.

She was forced to shake Duplo's hand but she couldn't lie, she didn't mind shaking his hand. She just wished she could have hugged him instead.

"Here we have district 3's tributes for the 172nd Hunger Games… Margit Amperon and Duplo Cone."

 _Wait, don't people die in the Hunger Games?_

 **A.N: And here we have district 3. They were another great pair to write and I'm looking forward to developing their story. Thank you goldie031 for both Duplo and Margit.**

 **Did you like these tributes? Who did you prefer? Which tribute has been your favourite so far?**

 **I realise that the blog link didn't work properly but the link is on my profile anyway so let me know what you think of it! :D**

 **Someone asked if I like physics because there's been a few questions on space. But in all honesty the chapter questions depend on what homework I just did. Because I always write after doing homework as my brain is active and warmed up XD**

 **So, QOTC: What is the oldest monotheistic religion in the world?**

 **See youse next chapter :)**


	8. Chapter 8: D4 Intros

**Hudson Acquati**

 **18 years old**

 **District 4 Male**

It had been a week since Hudson had found out he was the chosen volunteer for District 4. All of his hard work had paid off.

In recent years training had been exhausting. Friends left, newcomers arrived; all preparing for the competition to become the chosen volunteer.

Whilst those around him got to go back to their families every night, Hudson had to stay in the training centre dormitories. He was lucky to see his family twice a year. Finally, being chosen after 10 years of tough training made everything worth it.

Hudson could imagine himself in the Capitol. Fighting for the honour of his district. Winning the games. All of that excited him and encouraged him to keep training. Be the best he can be.

However, Hudson guessed that being called to Netta Van Amstel's office was not a good think. Mentor's never wanted to discuss tactics this early on since everything could change.

He knocked on the door with a sense of confidence. A few seconds later, Hudson heard a voice telling him to come in.

In front of him was Netta Van Amstel, with a stern expression on her face. She gestured for him to take a seat. Not once changing her expression.

"I'm guessing you know why you're here?" She sighed. Hudson noticed that she looked really worn out.

In all honesty, there could have been a few reasons he was in this office. Therefore, Hudson met his mentor's stern look with a blank stare.

"I'm talking about the shampoo incident, Hudson."

Oh right. Hudson remembered that. He could not stop laughing as he replaced the boys' shampoo with shaving cream. He didn't do it to inflict harm. He did it to see the utter shock and then realisation of his peers.

"Hudson, one of your peers had an allergic reaction to your little prank. And you do have a few sanctions on your record – sneaking out to drink. Twice."

Hudson felt really bad. His prank was meant to be harmless. It wasn't meant to hurt anyone. He deserved to be punished for taking things too far. He just hoped the consequences didn't affect his volunteer position.

"Netta, I'm really sorry. I'll go apologise to the guy. But I was just trying to have a bit of fun." Hudson explained.

"I get that. I really do. I came from a household that repressed fun and wanted to do everything to break out of the box. But right now you really need to be focusing on training."

"I will. I want to do District 4 proud. I've trained for this my whole life."

"I know. That's why I made sure you're consequence wasn't severe. You have toilet duty. For a month."

Hudson breathed a sigh of relief. Most would be disgusted by having to clean toilets but Hudson knew he deserved it. He took things a little too far. He's grateful that the punishment wasn't too severe.

"Thank you so much! But when are we going to discuss strategies?"

"Closer to the reapings. You never know who could find out our plans." Netta replied.

After leaving the office, Hudson was hit with a cool breeze. It reminded him of home. Of the small fishing town. He couldn't wait to return there as victor.

Before Hudson could even get ready, cleaning supplies and gloves were shoved into his arms. Nothing could prepare him for the horrendous stink of the boy's toilets. How could a small area smell so bad?

But nothing would stop Hudson from having fun when he wanted it…

 **Ripley West the III**

 **18 years old**

 **District 4 Female**

"Ripley West."

Ripley was relieved when she heard her name. All of her martial arts and Kung Fu training had paid off. She was going to be the female volunteer for district 4.

"It's actually Ripley West the third." She corrected.

"Right. The third." Mollie Headly repeated.

However, Ripley wanted to throw up. Her thoughts were all over the place. Was she even that good? Why did they pick her? Ripley knew that the other girls she was against were amazing. One girl was so much stronger than her. Why didn't they pick her instead?

Her face remained stone cold whilst everyone around her clapped.

Ripley couldn't concentrate on Netta and Mollie as they built up the tension for the announcement of the male volunteer as her doubtful thoughts escalated. She began to think about the games and the tributes.

All of the other careers were sure to be better than her. They could probably pick up a knife and strike her neck on the first throw. And what about the outer district tributes? Most of them would probably be stronger and see her as weak and an unworthy career. Would they be able to kill her easily too? Ripley had to do better. She had to train harder and just be better.

She had to try and clear her thoughts and focus on this moment. But her heart began to race and she couldn't concentrate. Repeatedly, Ripley told herself to calm down.

People continued to congratulate her but all she could reply with was a curt nod.

Finally, it seemed like all of the focus was off of her as they eventually announced the male volunteer. It allowed Ripley to take some pressure off of herself – but she still put an enormous amount of pressure on herself.

The male volunteer, Hudson Acquati was a very strong competitor. It made Ripley nervous. Would he outshine her?

Ripley had to make her parents and grandfather proud. She had to live up to her name and be the best.

Therefore, straight after the announcements had finished she went over to one of the trainers and demanded that she practised her fighting.

"You gonna use your brass knuckles today?" The trainer asked.

"Of course."

The trainer took longer to get ready due to the extra padding he had to put on. Ripley felt the cold metal on her skin as she put on the brass knuckles.

For the first five minutes of the fight, Ripley was doing well. She had managed to swipe the trainer's feet out from under him and pin his elbows behind his back. It was a shame she wasn't allowed to punch him in the face otherwise he would be a bloody mess. But then things had started to go downhill.

The trainer was a lot stronger than Ripley and managed to throw her off of him. Then they were back to fighting.

However, Ripley looked to the right of her and saw Hudson throwing axes. With each one hitting the dead centre of its target.

It made Ripley nervous and doubt herself even further. She was too weak to be called a woman, how could she call herself one with how bad she was? There was no way she could go up against any male in the arena. They were superior to her.

Her concentration slipped and her trainer managed to punch her stomach – knocking the air out of her.

Frustration coursed through Ripley and she ended up punching her trainer in the jaw. She forgot all about the rules. Immediately Ripley and some other trainers rushed over to the bleeding man

"I am so sorry."

"It's alright. It was a great punch."

Ripley made her way to the water fountain and sat on the bench with her conflicting thought. Then she felt someone else sit next to her. She was surprised to see Hudson.

"Hi." She said.

"That was pretty badass what you did out there." He laughed.

"Thanks? But I was fighting pretty weak."

"Weak? You were fighting like a boss. If that's you at your weakest then I'm scared to see you at your strongest." Hudson joked.

Why was he saying that? Why was he lying?

"I just want to make my parents and grandfather proud."

"I can relate to that on a personal level. I just want to make district 4 proud."

Ripley was surprised they had something in common. Though couldn't help but feel like he was just saying that out of pity for her being inferior to him.

"In all seriousness, one of us has to win. We need to make district 4 proud. If the other one of us dies then the other has to promise to win. Starting with killing the rest of the careers." Hudson pledged.

She had no idea how she was going to kill the other careers if it came to it. Especially since they would all be stronger than her. But maybe she could bring pride to everyone if she did that. Even if she died anyway.

"I promise."

A.N: And here we have district 4! Thanks to TheAmazingJAJ for Hudson and EllaRoseEverdeen for Ripley. They were a joy to write.

Though, I do have to clarify something about Ripley that I specifically didn't write in her POV. Ripley is an axiegender tribute. That means she identifies as female and uses she/her pronouns. But her anxiety causes her to feel like she isn't good enough to be classed as female. And often feels like the male sex is superior to her.

What did you think of these two tributes? Who did you prefer?

Also, soon my updating schedule may become a bit of a shambles because I just found out that sixth I wanted to go to just dropped all of the subjects I wanted to take. So I have no school to go to next year XD Which I need to sort out lol.

Anyways, QOTC: In which year was The Battle of Hastings fought?


	9. Chapter 9: D5 Intros

**Spark Atom**

 **17 years old**

 **District 5 'Male'**

Spark entered the shop both excited and nervous. Spark never thought this day would come. The day they would come out as genderfluid to their father.

See, Spark's journey in finding their true self was a confusing and long process. They always did feel different to their peers around them at such a young age.

After years of being shy and quiet, Spark thought they had discovered who they were. At age 9 Spark was ready to come out to their father. Ready to come out as agender.

They remember the day like it was yesterday; how nervous they had felt, how worried they were about their father not understanding or accepting them. But it went better than they expected. It was perfect. To this day Spark remembers their father's reply.

 _Gender's a bit of an outdated construct, isn't it kid._

No, it wasn't a heartfelt reaction. Nor was it a dramatic, over joyous one. But to Spark it was the best reply they could have heard. Their father hadn't treated Spark any different than he had in the past. It made everything normal.

Their father's acceptance gave them the confidence to come out as agender to his peers. They also accepted them, with everyone quickly using the right pronouns. Spark was grateful at the positive responses they were getting from everyone.

Despite gaining confidence from their coming out, Spark still couldn't bring themself to speak up more or be more social.

It took years for Spark to have a best friend. And even then, it was their best friend Balfos Cole who approached them. They felt so lucky to have Balfos in their life.

However, as time passed, Spark didn't feel like they actually _had_ discovered their true identity. For years they wondered, why on some days did they want to be and act clearly feminine? But on others be and act clearly masculine?

After 6 years of more uncertainty, Spark had finally discovered their true self. They were genderfluid. Today, they would tell their father. Their loving father, who had accepted them as agender. So surely could accept them as genderfluid.

They wanted to help their father understand as much as possible. To do that, they needed to find the perfect dress.

It took Spark two hours to find the perfect dress. As soon as they put it on, they knew it was the dress. It fit perfectly and the pink in the dress suited them.

It was so beautiful that Spark cried. They were beautiful. No, _she_ was beautiful. Using the pronouns she had wanted to for a year now made her cry even more.

Walking home, dress in hand boosted Spark's mood even more. Her father would be home soon, and Spark would be there waiting. In her perfect dress.

Waiting for her father felt like an eternity but hearing the keys rattle in the lock gave Spark the excitement and nervousness she needed.

Spark stood up to greet her father but was met with a very confused face.

"What the hell are you wearing?" His voice boomed. It made Spark cower slightly.

"It's a feminine day dad. A day where I'd like she/her pronouns to be used. Uh...please."

Spark watched her father's eyes darken, which only confused her so she decided to speak again.

"Recently, I've discovered that I'm not agender, but genderfluid. Some days I identify as female and some as male." She mustered up all the confidence she could.

"I don't get it. I don't get gender fluidity. I get being transgender, but gender _fluid_? Isn't that just sexist? Having designations of what is masculine and what is feminine? Why can't you just be agender?"

Immediately, all of Spark's confidence and positivity vanished. Her father didn't understand. No, their father didn't understand.

Spark knew they could only use they/them pronouns whilst under their father's roof. They didn't want to get on their guardian's bad said. Afterall, their mother left when they were 2. Their father was the only person left.

Tears threatened to fall down their face, but they couldn't show their father that. Instead, they ran out of the door, toward Balfos' house.

Balfos opened his door a distraught Spark who was sobbing uncontrollably.

 **Ariela 'Ari' Sky**

 **12 years old**

 **District 5 Female**

A day in the life of Ariela Sky. Most would see it as a boring day, even a weird one. To Ari, it was calming and normal.

The day of her first reaping though, that was a break in her daily routine.

Ariela still woke up to her family rushing around all over the house. How could she not with her 5 brothers, two sisters and parents storming about the house.

Normally, Ariela would read her book until her mother called her down to breakfast. But today she was nervous. She knew the likelihood of her being reaped was low but there was still that possibility; a lot of people seemed to forget about that possibility, no matter how small.

Instead, Ari decided to work on the puzzle she had started the previous day. It was a 1000-piece puzzle, but it wasn't as tough as it would first seem. As long as she paid close attention to the colours at the edge of each puzzle piece then she should be fine. That was the trick, which she found out years ago by analyzing different ways people solved puzzles.

There was about 10 pieces left when Ariela heard her mother shout,

"BREAKFAST."

She decided she would get back to the puzzle later. It wouldn't take her long.

When Ari got downstairs, there was already a plate of food there for her. At the corner of the table. No one really noticed when she sat down, as usual.

However, she could already sense a different mood in the room than normal. Firstly, her two younger brothers were arguing over a stupid toy but no one was screaming at them to be quiet.

Then she noticed her father intensely staring at each of his children that were at reaping age. There were four in total. He looked her dead in the eyes but didn't seem to notice her staring back.

It was only when he was staring at her that she saw the dark circles under his eyes. That along with the apprehensive look in his eyes indicated to Ari that her father hadn't slept much that night, if at all.

As his eyes were directed toward her eldest brother, a look of relief washed over him. He had one child who had survived all of their reapings, only 8 more to go. However, the look soon vanished when his gaze was directed toward his three youngest children. He still had to wait for them to even be within reaping age before they could be safe.

Her mother was distant and looked deep in thought, most likely thinking about the probability of her children getting reaped. Though, it seemed that her mother was able to get more sleep than her father did.

Unfortunately, Ariela was not able to analyse the rest of her family's moods. Due to her mother eventually coming out of her deep thoughts and finally someone noticed Ariela.

"Ariela! You're not dressed. We have to leave in 10 minutes, hurry up!" Her mother rushed.

She got changed quite quickly, even having a minute to work on her puzzle.

"ARIELA!" She heard her mother call up.

Ari sighed. She desperately wanted to finish her puzzle. After all she only had one piece left but it must have dropped somewhere and Ariela didn't have time to find it.

"I'll just finish it when I get home."

Walking to the reaping this year was different. She was actually able to understand the feeling the older kids were going through. As she studied people's attitudes, both adults and kids, there was one emotion everyone seemed to share. Anxiousness.

Some tried to keep their faces neutral but certain eye darts or twitches showed how anxious they were. While others let despair and anxiousness overcome their facial expressions.

During the wait for the reaping to start, Ariela continued to study her peers' emotions. She didn't engage in their nervous conversations. She would rather study their conversations instead.

Finally, the reaping began with the young escort skipping onto the stage. It was obvious to tell he was happy to be here, which really contrasted the somber mood of the district.

"Why don't we mix it up a little this year, eh? We'll start with the male tribute...

...Spark Atom." The young man announced.

It took a few seconds for the boy to step out of the 17 year old section. Ariela could immediately tell how the boy was feeling based on the tears streaming down his face.

"C'mon lad. We don't have all day."

Once on the stage Spark started to speak, with his voice cracking halfway through his sentence.

"Actually, I u-use they/them pronouns."

The escort apologised multiple times and walked over to the female bowl.

"And district 5's second Hunger Games tribute is...

… Ariela Sky."

Ari couldn't believe it. Did she really just hear her name? It must have been her name as she heard her parents' screaming and begging.

She was terrified and paralysed with fear. There was no way she was going to survive, she may as well die on the spot.

Ariela walked onto the stage hyperventilating and her eyes watering, but tears refused to fall. She pinpointed each of her family members in the crowd, each crying.

Ari turned to her district partner to shake their hand but was confused when she saw a hint of joy and hope behind their tears. Why would anyone be happy about abandoning their family to fight to the death?

 **A.N: District 5! Thank you so much to 4everlark for Spark and david12341 for Ariela. They are both great tributes and it felt natural writing them both.**

 **Okay, so just to clear things up with Spark in case anyone is confused. At 9 Spark came out as agender and used they/them pronouns. But at 15 realised they were genderfluid. Spark uses she/her pronouns on feminine days and he/his pronouns on masculine days. However, they do accept being referred to with they/them pronouns on any day. But as you see more of Spark, it will probably be more fitting to use the pronouns of the gender they are identifying with on that day.**

 **Did you like these tributes? Who did you prefer?**

 **Also, I forgot that many of you probably don't know much about the British school system XD Basically you attend nursery until 4 years old. From there you attend primary school until your 11 (in year 6). Then you change schools to a secondary school from age 11-16 (year 7 to year 11). Then you go to college or sixth form for two years and then to uni. So I'm currently looking at sixth forms and can't find any that do my subject so that's the predicament lol. But I can't do anything about that until mid-November. I have no idea how any other school systems work so I'd love to learn if anyone is interested in sharing.**

 **QOTC: Which process do plants undergo, using sunlight, to make their own food?**


	10. Chapter 10: D6 Intros

**Jester Marley**

 **16 years old**

 **District 6 Male**

Jester stood, staring at the numerous certificates and posters on the wall. The past two years had been successful ones for him. Who would have thought the _Capitol_ would know his name?

His sister, Ripley, was adamant they hang up every certificate, letter, poster and anything of Jester's that showed his success.

He looked to the left to see all of his sister's achievements. Some were so pointless but others were great achievements. Jester couldn't have been prouder. Every little achievement of his sister's was a massive one to him.

But that was why he did it. Why he did everything: the interviews for the Capitol, all the extra work and all of his technological ideas. All he wanted was for his little sister to be happy and be the best she could be.

He wanted her to have opportunities and would do anything for her. Especially since there was no one else looking out for them. They only had each other. Jester wouldn't know what to do without his sister by his side.

Jester had managed to finish work early. That day marked the last he would work at the largest factory in 6. Where the next day would mark the first day in a new factory.

The front door opened to reveal his sister soaking wet. Jester laughed slightly at his sister's irritated expression.

"I should have waited a little longer." Ripley grumbled.

Jester was glad she didn't. He preferred it when she was home with him. It reminded him that he had to work for Ripley. He had to be the father figure she no longer had. With her by his side, he would do anything.

"If you had waited longer the rain could have gotten worse." He replied.

"It better not be raining for the Reaping next week."

"Why?"

This question earned Jester a baffled look. "What do you mean why?!"

"The rain won't give anyone hope. Unlike the sun, the rain will ensure no one's living in cuckoo land but in reality."

"Seriously Jester? It's reaping day. As in, _the day where two people are sent to fight to the death_. People don't need to be more anxious than they already will be."

"Ripley. 6's chances of getting a victor are so slim, you know that. There's no need to give people false hope."

Jester handed his sister a towel and a cup of hot chocolate to warm her up. Though, he knew it would take a little while for her to warm up completely.

"Yes, but no one should have to think about two kids dying for an hour."

"Death is inevitable."

"Honestly Jester, I think you should change your name. Because in no way are you fun."

Jester just shrugged and went to his room to work. There was no time for rest.

On his desk, Jester kept a photograph of him with his parents and sister when they lived in 3. That was a long time ago; Ripley was barely two years old.

Next to that he kept a framed photo of him standing next to the district three victor – Ciman Fontaine. He was Jester's idol.

The day he became Capitol Couture's youth representative for district 6 and got to meet Ciman was one of the greatest days of his life.

It helped Jester realise the potential he had. It also made Jester determined to get Ripley and himself back to district 3. Back to meet his parents' family in three he hasn't seen since he was younger.

All he had to do was survive the rest of his reapings. As well as waiting for Ripley to survive hers.

Unfortunately, Jester didn't have the hope that both of them would survive to 18.

 **Perona Hordin**

 **14 years old**

 **District 6 Female**

"Perona…. Perona!"

Perona had stopped paying attention to the class quite a while ago. Instead she started paying attention to the happenings on the other side of the window next to her.

For the past five minutes she had been studying and watching a squirrel. The squirrel was so cute; it was obviously a mother trying to feed her offspring. It had dropped some nuts numerous times which Perona found amusing. But the squirrel itself fell out of the tree and didn't move for a good few good seconds. She was ready to jump out of the window to help the poor creature. Luckily, it got up quickly and retrieved its nuts.

Everything about nature fascinated Perona. It was all so beautiful in different ways. If she could, Perona would stay outside forever. Admiring every aspect of nature, no matter how big or small.

However, Perona was stuck inside learning about simultaneous equations. Something she didn't care about but apparently needed to know. But she got distracted. Yet again.

"Yeah. Sorry? What happened?"

"This is the fifth time this week I've caught you looking out the window."

"I'm really sorry miss. I just love nature. It's so interesting."

"It sure is but I'm going to have to move you to the back, away from the window."

Perona reluctantly packed up her stuff and moved. It took her everything to hold back her tears – the one thing she looked forward to at school had been taken away from her in a matter of seconds.

Soon the bell for lunch went. Some students decided to go to the canteen to eat but most chose to eat in the classrooms as it was calmer. Well mostly.

As soon as the teacher left Perona got up to reclaim her seat by the window. Unfortunately, it looked like the squirrels had gone for the day.

"I don't believe it. I've forgotten my lunch." The boy next to her muttered.

"What's up?" Perona asked her classmate.

"I left my lunch bag on the kitchen counter at home, and I'm so hungry!"

"You can have mine if you want." She said, offering the boy the entire contents of her lunch bag.

"What about you? Don't you need to eat?"

"I had a big breakfast. Plus I'll have dinner straight after school."

This was a total lie. Perona had only had an apple for breakfast. It was also likely she would have dinner late, when her mother finally got back from the factory.

But Perona could see how upset the boy was that he forgot his lunch. If the food would make him happier, she was okay to give it to him. Even if it would make her go hungry for a few hours.

"Are you sure?"

"Totally!" She smiled, feeling a low grumble in her stomach. As long as the boy was fine, Perona was content.

For the rest of lunch Perona sat by the window distracting herself with the beauty of Mother Nature and her creatures.

 **A.N: Sorry for the long wait for this chapter! These tributes were a joy to write. Thank you to cornellfann for Jester and EllaRoseEverdeen for Perona.**

 **What did you think of these tributes? Who was your favourite? And why?**

 **Also, I really appreciate the constructive criticism I receive. I'm always looking for ways to improve my writing. And I'm open for suggestions on how to do that.**

 **So, after a month of setting everything up, I was finally able to buy my pet fish. They're so cute and therapeutic lol. But I have absolutely no idea what to call them :(**

 **Oh yeah, IMPORTANT NOTE: I'm really sorry but there won't be another update for about a month because my mock examinations are coming up and I really need to do well in them. It probably means that I won't finish all of the reapings by Christmas like I'd hoped. But I'm gonna try my best to finish as many before the new year as possible.**

 **QOTC: How about an easy one XD What is the title of the sixth book in the Harry Potter series?**

 **Until next time!**


	11. Chapter 11: D7 Intros

**Hector dela Goya**

 **12 years old**

 **District 7 Male**

Hector and his friends had been planning this for a week now. Although, it was mainly Hector who had come up with everything. It was both a thrilling yet stupid plan. Many of Hector's friends had tried to argue against it but unsurprisingly Hector's confidence in the plan was victorious.

If everything went to plan then he'd be back before curfew. But it never went to plan.

"I'm so ready for this." Hector shouted, seemingly readying himself for a fight.

His friends still seemed sceptical and kept giving each other apprehensive glances.

"Hector. You're not going to, erm, like… leave us again. Right?" Sami, one of his oldest friends asked.

"Of course not. Now hurry up." He huffed.

The chances of him leaving them were actually pretty high. He did it often and usually showed no remorse for it. Sometimes people just have to be a little selfish.

Hector was ready to win tonight. He'd show all of the older boys that he was a contender and one to take seriously. He was prepared to challenge the title of Rap Battle King.

Rapping was his passion and he would never miss out on a chance to have a rap battle. Just because he was young didn't mean he was useless.

After 10 minutes of Hector moaning how long it was taking, the boys finally reached the venue. The run down house looked isolated but the boys knew that inside it would be noisy and crowded.

Hector had known that they were never going to be allowed in without sneaking in so he concocted up a plan to get them all in without being noticed.

Just before Hector got into position he felt a tug on his sleeve, it was Sami again.

"I really don't think we should do this Hector. The older boys are gonna destroy us."

Hector could feel his face get redder and redder in anger. They had come this far and spent all this time planning for his friend to doubt him? It wasn't fair! His friend needed to let Hector prove himself to the older boys and outshine them.

"There's a play park round the corner you can go to since you'd rather be a baby." Hector replied and turned away.

In the end Sami stayed with them. It had taken longer than expected to climb through the windows since they hadn't been opened in a long time so were sealed shut. Ultimately they had to smash a window and climb through.

As they entered the house they could hear the loud music that threatened to burst their eardrums. Luckily no one had heard the smashing of the window or the crash when Hector fell through the window.

The closer they got to the basement, the faster Hector's adrenaline started pumping around his body. He was ready, he was confident and he was excited. There was nothing that could stop him proving himself worthy of being the Rap Battle King.

Cheers and boos became clear as they entered the basement. The atmosphere was enthralling and Hector could feel the room buzzing.

Then he saw his opportunity. They were asking for another challenger for the crown. Hector saw his friends nod and fade deeper into the crowd.

"I'll do it!" Hector shouted, jumping into the centre of the circle with a huge, confident grin.

The beat playing in the background wasn't one Hector was familiar with but he figured he'd just improvise. He was ready to begin when a hand connected with his face.

Hector was stunned but soon recovered. However, his once confident and excited attitude had been fuelled with anger and bitterness in a matter of seconds.

The other older boys were booing at him and soon they had also started fighting his friends. Why wouldn't the older boys let Hector rap? Why were they so mean?

Before he could stop himself, Hector was throwing a punch at the teenager who had previously punched him. He felt and heard the crack of the older boy's nose. That wasn't good.

Hector decided that he had to leave or the older boys would hurt him. A lot.

He ran, nearly tripping over numerous bottles on the floor.

"Hector!" Sami called.

Hector turned to see his friends fighting the older boys but losing. Sami had blood coming out of his nose and a cut on his cheek. He didn't want to leave his friends but he couldn't risk being late home or getting beaten up.

"Hector, please don't leave us."

Without looking back Hector ran out of the door toward home. Suddenly he was face to face with the floor and his limbs tangled up with someone else's. The someone else was a girl who looked about his age, but her papers had scattered everywhere.

"Watch where you're going." He hissed.

The girl didn't reply but continued to pick up her papers. Hector calmed down slightly and began helping her until he saw the time on the girl's watch. He was already 10 minutes.

"I'm really sorry but I have to get home." And he sprinted back home.

As Hector began to turn the doorknob at home someone else opened the door. He was met by his mother who did not look impressed.

"Where have you been? And what the hell happened to your lip?" She scolded. He hadn't even noticed that the boy had busted his lip when he punched Hector.

Hector's eyes scanned the room to see most of his family members there. He was about to ask why when he saw his aunt Godiva. He felt his anger levels rise again.

"What the hell is she doing here?!" Hector shouted.

"We thought something had happened. I called everyone to see if they knew where you were."

"Mum, I'm sorry. But seriously it's not even dark yet."

"That's beside the point. You're grounded for a week."

"She deserves more than a week." His aunt piped up.

Hector felt his blood boil and face redden. She just misgendered him on purpose, just to spite him. Out of his whole family it was his aunt Godiva who didn't accept him or care about him.

"What did you just say?" Hector couldn't control himself, he went to punch her but was immediately pulled away by his father.

"Hershey, stop it!" His mother shrieked.

Hector looked at his mother in astonishment. He couldn't believe his ears. Why would his mother call him that? That name was as dead to him as his great grandpa was.

His mother immediately burst into tears and started apologising constantly but he didn't reply. He couldn't without going ballistic. Hector just didn't understand why his mother couldn't get his name and pronouns right all of the time.

Hector ran up to his room and slammed the door.

 **Nicole Ichigo**

 **12 years old**

 **District 7 Female**

In district 7 the sun always rose the earliest in the summer. That was why Nicole was awake at 4am on a Saturday morning.

Despite it being early and only having 6 hours of sleep, Nicole could never miss sunrise. She was sat on top of her roof waiting and embracing the quiet that filled the streets of the district.

As the sun started to rise in the distance Nicole became lost in her thoughts. How the orange glow of the sun covered the whole of the district trying to smother it in happiness. However, there was too much destruction in Panem for the sun to bring too much hope to the district.

Nicole sat there for a while; feeling the warmth of the sun's rays hitting her skin. It was always a great way to start her day.

After the sun had risen and it was past 5am Nicole decided there was no way she was going to get any more sleep. So she got dressed into shorts and a tank top, ready for some early morning training.

Her parents kept a room in the basement where Nicole would train and improve her fighting skills. She had absolutely no intention of volunteering like the great victor Hesper Resnik once had. The only reason Nicole trained was as a precaution, in case she ever was reaped.

Most kids in 7 who were eligible for the games trained nowadays. It gave them and the district hope for them if they ever competed in the games. In recent years it had also meant that the tributes from 7 had survived longer on average than they ever had. It really encouraged young children to train properly to volunteer and attempt to become victor.

Although, Nicole quite enjoyed training. Especially when it came to training with a staff.

Every time she picks it up, it amazes her. How can a weapon be equally as great as both an offensive and defensive weapon? The grip on it required needs to be perfect otherwise it could slip. If that were to happen in a real situation then she would be totally screwed.

Experimenting to find the perfect grip always intrigued Nicole. It involved all of the things she loved most. It was the same for a spear but Nicole didn't enjoy nearly as much.

After she had finished training it was only 7am and Nicole still had the whole day. She decided to continue sticking to her typical daily routine by walking to her family's strawberry plantation.

It was quite far away but the long distance allowed Nicole to get lost in her thoughts and think about her favourite things.

It was beginning to get warmer which was a nice feeling and would be good for the strawberry plants. As Nicole got there she saw her father and cousins working hard to care for the plants and ensure they were growing properly.

As her father began to test the soil and add certain minerals if needed, Nicole grabbed the hose and a watering can. She filled the watering can and started to water the strawberry plants.

She had to be careful to not over water them. If she did then the soil would become waterlogged. If this happened then the strawberries would become diseased and rot – which would not be good for business.

Watering half of a strawberry plantation was hard work and took a long time. It was already midday and Nicole could feel her energy levels drop and her tiredness levels increase.

Lunch would be ready at home in an hour so she had to hurry. Nicole decided fill a basket with freshly picked strawberries to bring home for dessert.

On her way home, Nicole ate a few of the strawberries but decided that they tasted better with sugar so waited until after lunch.

Nicole's lunch was pleasant but the fresh strawberries and sugar were delicious. That was the perk of her family owning a strawberry plantation.

Finally Nicole got to do – what was arguably the best part of her day – origami. She loves the detail that's required as an origamist. Every small fold and every small detail in an origami piece can impact the overall outcome greatly. It was kind of like life – every small decision could impact your life greatly but you wouldn't realise until it was too late.

That night she decided to try a new, complex piece of a dragon. She followed the instructions from the old book step by step, never missing a word.

Nicole recreated the dragon many times with different coloured paper. Each time the dragon was perfect. However, now she was left with multiple origami dragons which she didn't want to destroy.

Instead she resolved to give them to the children at the hospital. Maybe she could bring them some happiness like the sun brought to her. Unfortunately, as she was on her way to the hospital last week someone bumped into her, causing her to drop all her paper and origami pieces.

It had been a long day for Nicole and it wasn't even over yet. But she enjoyed it and hoped that even with the games looming she could have more days like that.

Finally it was nearly time for her to sleep. First she went up to the roof to watch the sunset.

 **A.N: Guess who's back! And hopefully frequently over the holidays. My aim is to get an update out every 48 hours so I'll finish the reapings before I go back to school. But we'll see how that turns out XD**

 **This was a very long intro chapter, so thank you to Platrium for sending my both Nicole and Hector. But also thank you for sending me two transgender tributes (although it's not obvious in Nicole's POV) because it's allowing me to write something new and I'm learning new things. However, please do tell me if I got something wrong.**

 **So, did you like these tributes? Who did you prefer? Is there anything about them which intrigues you?**

 **QOTC: What is the name of Ariana Grande's upcoming tour?**


	12. Chapter 12: D8 Intros

**Orion Cornell**

 **16 years old**

 **District 8 Male**

Since the start of Janus Megalos' presidency, the orphanage had only become better for Orion and his peers. The paint seemed brighter, the facilities were cleaner and the staff were kinder. The adoption rates had even gone up in the last few years.

However, for two weeks Orion hadn't been his usual self. He had no idea what was wrong, all he knew was that whenever he tried to do something it didn't work. Orion was failing at everything. He didn't understand it.

Instead of meeting up with his friends before breakfast, Orion decided that he would try to get ahead on his chores by cleaning up the dishes from last night's dinner. It was calming for him and allowed him to focus on himself.

Kids had started to come in for breakfast, including Orion's friends. They saw him through the hatch in the kitchen and waved.

Orion went to wave back but used the hand holding a teacup instead of the hand with the towel. He dropped the cup and it smashed to smithereens. The cheap china went all over the floor and under the counters.

If he had done that a few years ago he probably would have been beaten but Miss Felicity just smiled sympathetically today.

"Well maybe the sharp edges will injure those stupid rats." The old woman joked.

But Orion couldn't look away from the broken pieces of china. Why was he so stupid? How could he think a teacup was a towel? How was he going to try and get a proper job and provide for himself if he couldn't even wash dishes properly?

He was mad. Mad at himself, for being so stupid and clumsy. He was failing. There was no way his parents were looking down on him and smiling. They were probably humiliated that they produced such a stupid child.

Eventually Orion began to help Miss Felicity pick up the broken shards, not letting the criticising thoughts leave him. He let the anger at himself consume him. So much that he began to ball his fists. This caused Orion to cut his hand deeply. The blood flow was small but constant. He didn't tell anyone but instead stuffed the hand in his pocket.

As Orion left the kitchen, his friends beckoned him over. He shook his head furiously – wanting to be alone – and stood in the line for breakfast.

After a few minutes of waiting in the queue his friend Cire came over to him.

"Hey, Orion are you okay?"

"I'm fine." The boy replied. However, his friend was giving him an uncertain glance.

"It's just that we've noticed you haven't been yourself for a few weeks. You're more than welcome to sit wi-"

But Orion interrupted his friend. "Honestly I'm fine."

He felt the blood oozing out his hand grow and dampen his trouser pocket.

"You know what. I don't even deserve breakfast."

Orion rushed out of the dining hall, leaving his friend calling after him.

Once he was back in his room, Orion grabbed a tissue and applied the pressure to the cut. It stung a lot but Orion knew he deserved it for being so stupid.

About an hour later, Danny, one of the younger boys knocked on his door.

"Orion, could you help me with my homework please." The younger boy looked frustrated.

"Of course." Orion smiled.

The boy was struggling with his art homework. Orion was in no way an expert in anything art related but was willing to try and help the boy so he could smile and release his frustration.

Within half an hour Danny had become even more frustrated and was on the verge of tears.

"Why can't I draw a circle? I'm so stupid."

"Hey, you're not stupid. At all. Everyone has their strength and weaknesses. Not being able to draw a circle isn't going to define how well you do in life." Orion tried to console the boy.

"Yes but I'm going to fail art class. _Art_ class."

"No you won't. Concentrate and relax. Just have fun in the class. If you don't need it in the future then it really doesn't matter."

"Just concentrate and relax." Danny muttered. As he focused and relaxed the boy drew a near perfect circle and in no time was able to finish his homework.

"Thanks Orion! I couldn't have done it without you."

"No problem." He replied. Finally Orion was beginning to feel more like himself. But he was glad that the younger boy didn't feel bad anymore, it was nice to see a smile on Danny's face.

A few hours later and Orion felt perfectly fine again, like the morning's events hadn't happened.

His friends appeared in the doorway, unsure whether to come in.

"Hey guys. I'm really sorry for being weird for the past few weeks. I don't know what happened but I'm fine now."

Most of his friends visibly eased and came into his room. But Cire hovered in the doorway with a look on his face that told Orion that his friend was thinking and piecing a puzzle together.

Deep down Orion had an idea of what his closest friend was thinking but refused to acknowledge or even think about what his friend was thinking.

Instead, Orion looked at his hand and then back his friends. A genuine smile formed on his face whilst he ignored the stinging sensation in his hand.

"So, who's up for a game of charades?"

 **Evanna Hulance**

 **15 years old**

 **District 8 Female**

Evanna had been agitated and on edge all week. There was only a week until the reaping, which worried her. She was thankful that her three sisters were all below reaping age and she only had herself to worry about.

But the reaping wasn't the only event approaching. The week after the reapings was the anniversary of her father's death. Her father's murder.

Evanna tied up the laces on her trainers and synced her watch to her step count.

"Mum, I'm going for a run, I'll be back in an hour." Evanna didn't get a reply but figured it was because it was 6am and no one in the Hulance household was ever up before 8am. Well except for Evanna.

In the summer it was always best to run in the morning because there was still a cool breeze and there was no humidity which made it possible to run.

Each step was important to Evanna as it meant she was increasing her fitness levels and maintaining them. If anyone was to try and attack her like they did to her father then she would be ready. Ready to fight back using her martial arts skills or ready to flee using her fitness.

After a while, Evanna's throat become dry and her chest stung with every breath. It was only then she realised that she forgot her water bottle. Nevertheless, she carried on running, like her life depended on it.

Usually she ran to clear her mind and help her relax but today was different. She couldn't think of anything else but her father. Evanna remembered the events of that day like it was yesterday, despite it being 6 years ago.

Her youngest sister, Ash, had been born a week prior and it seemed like everything was going well. The only nuisance was Ash's screaming in the middle of the night. But Evanna had gotten used to it, having experienced it twice before.

Evanna's breathing rate increased and her heavy breathing disturbed the peace of the summer morning in district 8.

One day Ash had stopped screaming. Evanna and her siblings thought it was a miracle. But later in the day Ash's screaming was replaced with the screams of her mother and father.

The argument they had was huge. It was the worse one Evanna had seen them have. It was like both forgot that their children were in the room.

The argument went on for hours and the shouts only got louder. Some of the things her father was saying cut through her like a knife and she had never seen this version of her father. She hated it.

Evanna had gotten so distracted by her thoughts that she didn't realise that she had run straight to the local river. _The_ river. Tears welled in her eyes and all she wanted to do was sit and cry but she had to keep running.

The argument that day ended with her father packing a bag and storming out. He didn't return the next day, the next week nor the next month.

Evanna thought that he left them. That he just decided he didn't want them anymore and went to start a new life without them.

For a year Evanna despised her father and hoped karma hit him hard. Her mother seemed to hate him even more and refused to talk about him.

However, when Evanna had turned 10 there was a knock on the door. The police had turned up saying they had found a body in the river. Her mother had to identify it and was distraught when she learnt it was her husband.

Further investigations showed that he was murdered and dumped in the river on the night he left.

Evanna stopped running and stood looking at the river. The river which some monster decided should be her father's grave. She would never go any closer in case the same was to happen to her. But Evanna wasn't about to let a monster break her family even more. She had to protect them now and she would do anything for them. Anything.

Everything had made sense when the body was recovered. Her father had only packed a bag big enough for a night, most likely having the intention of returning. No one had spoken to him since the argument so he couldn't have left for a new life or a new family.

Being by the river brought back all of the thoughts and questions she had when his body was discovered. There were so many doubts and unanswered questions that Evanna tried to supress but was never successful.

If he hadn't been murdered would he have left them for good? Where was he going to spend the night? Did he really believe his children were a burden?

The river's small ripples taunted Evanna as she sat there thinking about her father. But she soon realised that she had to be strong. She couldn't let a monster distract her from protecting her family.

Evanna wiped the tears that had escaped and replaced her expression with a determined stare and began to run.

 _Nothing's going to stop me from protecting my family from more harm. I'll do whatever it takes._

 **A.N: So, here's district 8 as promised. Thank you to Introlium for Orion and The Lonely Geek for Evanna. They were great to write.**

 **I'll see youse in two days :)**

 **QOTC: Which fictional family live in Springfield?**


	13. Chapter 13: D9 Intros

**Bran Miller**

 **16 years old**

 **District 9 Male**

Reaping day was never any different for Bran. Every shop, factory and market was closed. All except for his parents' one. They couldn't afford to close for the day and being the only place open tended to bring a lot of business. And more importantly money.

It was the one day of the year where Bran could have a proper meal instead of the usual stale bread and pea soup.

However, it also meant that Bran had to work on the farm for the day. It wasn't the worst thing in the world but it was very repetitive and could get slightly boring.

Bran was carrying the sack of pig food when he saw the rakes and other equipment scattered all over the floor. The bag of food was getting heavier by the second so he decided to carry on to the pig pen.

On his way back to retrieve cow food, Bran noticed that the equipment was still all over the floor. He knew that it would be an inconvenience for his father and a huge strain on his father's back. Therefore, he decided to pick them all up. It took him a few minutes but if Bran was able to help in any way then he would.

Minutes later Bran's father passed and acknowledged the lack of equipment on the floor.

"Thanks Bran."

Bran just nodded in response and went to feed the cows.

Later on in the day it was time for the reaping. Bran was glad he was able to get a break from the hard labour but wasn't too glad to be at risk of being sent to a game of death.

The chances of him being reaped were extremely high. He wouldn't be surprised if his name was in there the most.

Every year Bran readied himself for the possibility of being reaped. But it wasn't himself he was worried for. He was worried that his parents would become older and weaker and be unable to complete the jobs on the farm. They would lose the little money they have and waste away. Bran couldn't get reaped because it would not only be him who died but his parents also.

The lines for the blood sample were always unnecessarily long. There were only two tables for thousands of kids. Year after year it delayed the reapings and the district was always punished for it by the mayor. The obvious solution was to add another table but it never happened.

Bran hated being surrounded by so many other kids. He didn't like nor want to talk to them. The worst part was that he had to listen to their pointless and irritating conversations. Bran just wanted quiet, it would help him focus and calm his nerves.

As he tried to get to the 16 year old section, a crowd of kids formed and blocked the walkway. There was no way to get past and it didn't look like anyone was going to move any time soon.

"Excuse me." Bran whispered.

After a minute of waiting for a reply Bran realised that no one was going to move. It was likely no one had heard him but he wasn't going to try again. Instead Bran waited 5 minutes for the crowd to move.

The reaping started late again this year and again the mayor looked furious. Perhaps a victor would please the mayor?

It was boring, waiting for the reaping to end. The girl had just been called, she was a pretty girl. She also seemed like the type of person to attract a lot of sponsors. Bran wished her the best of luck.

"Bran Miller."

The boys name was called but no one stepped forward.

"Bran Miller?"

It took another few seconds for Bran to realise that it was his name which was called. He didn't know what to do but step forward.

He was shocked but deep down he knew this would happen. He'd prepared himself for the heartbreak of losing his life. At least there was only going to be two other people with broken hearts. Bran had no friends and only had his parents.

Inside Bran was a mess but the outside he was calm and collected. The girl was sure to get sponsors so Bran had to too.

On the stage he was made to shake hands with the girl. She said something to him but he dismissed it and turned to the camera to smile.

If he was going to die he may as well die comfortable. And the only way that was going to happen was with sponsors.

 **Verity Lee**

 **15 years old**

 **District 9 Female**

Verity couldn't stop herself from zoning out during class. It wasn't her fault that the class was so boring and her imagination was so interesting. With an imagination, anything was possible.

All she wanted to do was go home and watch her favourite film – La la land. It wasn't exactly a legal film, quite the opposite, but it was what she was brought up with. It was a part of her.

"Excuse me Verity. Would you mind telling the class why you're not listening?" Her teacher scolded.

"Sorry Miss." Verity muttered and lowered her head.

"You didn't answer my question Verity. Why weren't you listening?"

Verity was taken by surprise at her teacher's persistent question. Why couldn't she just be left alone? She could hear a few snickers from the back but a glare from her brother Valor shut them up.

"I was just thinking about my favourite film. I wish I could just watch it on repeat." She beamed, opting to tell the truth.

"And what film would that be?"

Verity was about to go on a tangent on how great La la land was and how she wished it was her in the yellow dress who could sing and be free. But a sharp glare from her other sibling Acuity reminded her that the film was banned.

"Panem through the ages miss. Volume II." She lied. Her teacher nodded and seemed content with the answer.

Verity knew that the films were lies. Her family had managed to pass on their French roots and traditions through generations. Panem couldn't have been that old if her family stories were correct – which they obviously were.

Every birthday since she could talk, all Verity would wish for was a chance to visit France. Go up the Eiffel Tower maybe. Or eat the famous croissants her parents talk about. As she grew older, Verity knew it was impossible. After all the world outside of Panem had been destroyed and deserted. But a girl can still hope.

After class Verity joined her two siblings as they walked home. Acuity was ranting about how Verity could have gotten them arrested if she'd blurted out the real name of the film.

"I know, and I'm really sorry Acuity. I really do try but I can't help myself, I get too excited."

"I get it, just try not to zone out of class in the future." They said.

The triplets walked home talking about everything and anything. Well anything except the banned books and films of France. To anybody watching the triplets seemed normal and one wouldn't really notice them. That's what made it so easy for them to pass on the traditions and knowledge – no one would ever suspect the family to break the law or speak of the forbidden.

The three were greeted by their mother and father once they arrived home. Her mother looked more frail and hollow than she had when Verity walked out of the house this morning. Verity could only hope that her other didn't deteriorate any further.

After dinner and after ages of Verity pleading and making random promises, the family gave in and agreed to watch La la land before bed.

Even Acuity gave in and watched it. They even made popcorn for the family. Verity just smiled when they gave her the popcorn, she didn't want to risk her sibling taking her popcorn away.

Even after watching it so many times, Verity was still star struck by the amazing talents of the actors and was fascinated by the whole storyline.

However, her favourite part had to be the songs. She had them memorised and annoyed her family by joining in on every song. Verity hoped that someday her songs could make it into films and people could feel the same joy she does when listening to the songs from her favourite film.

Once the film had finished, everyone got ready for bed. But before Verity could sleep her father came in, hands behind his back.

"I was going to wait until you were cleared of the reapings forever but I think you deserve it now." Her father said, revealing a painting of the Eiffel Tower which had only ever been described to her.

Verity was so overwhelmed and grateful. She felt so many emotions at once but love for her family reigned supreme. She was so grateful to be born into a family with French root and be connected to a place which once held so much beauty.

She didn't care that she was supposed to hide the fact that she loved France; Verity hung the painting up on her wall, showing to the world that she loved France and there was nothing that could stop her from loving it.

Now all she had to do was survive another 3 reapings and then she could have her own children who she would pass the traditions and love of France down to.

 **A.N: So that was longer than two days XD But I wasn't satisfied with how I wrote these two tributes so I wrote it again. I'm still not 100% satisfied but it's better than my first draft. I'll ensure I write them both better in future chapters.**

 **Thank you to AmericanPi for Verity and somerandomtom for Bran. They were both really interesting tributes.**

 **Anyway, did you like these tributes? Is there anything about them you didn't like? Who did you prefer? Can you see some alliances start to form?**

 **Hope everyone who celebrates Christmas had a great day. And if you don't celebrate it – Happy Holidays!**

 **QOTC: What team did England beat in a penalty shootout in the World Cup 2018?**

 **Until next time :)**


	14. Chapter 14: D10 Intros

**Davis Eques**

 **18 years old**

 **District 10 Male**

"Harriet! I have news." Davis rushed into the room nearly taking the door off its hinges.

Davis and his friend had had a slight disagreement last time they saw each other but Davis had news that he had to tell someone. He hoped the food he had brought would act as a peace offering.

"Guess what? Michael's getting married and you know what that means right? A whole night a free booze!" Davis exclaimed, unable to contain his excitement.

He didn't care that his brother was getting married, he couldn't care less. Davis didn't get along with his brother, or any of his family for that matter. Most of the time he was probably just a burden to them but they never seemed to care so why should Davis care?

Davis only cared about all of the alcohol he could have without being broke afterward. It would help him maintain his cheery self. He just loved the effects of it. But obviously he could give it up whenever he wanted to, but chose to keep drinking.

However, Harriet didn't reply and gave a cold stare.

"Come on! I brought you food." Davis was in disbelief that his friend wouldn't accept his apology.

The pig just started him in the eyes, refusing to move.

"Look, I'm sorry that I ate your friend in front of you but I was hungry and it was the only food I'd had all day. You know I'd never kill him. "

The pig grunted in response, which Davis took as a sign of forgiveness.

"Don't worry Harriet, I'd never eat you… you're not fat enough."

After an hour of chatting with his friend, Davis' arms and legs began to itch and his nose started to run. It was annoying but Davis would always deal with it to be with his friend.

"See the sacrifices I make to stay here with you despite the fact I'm allergic to you?" He laughed.

For a while Davis began to feed all the animals and take care of the farm. It took a lot longer than it should have as he kept stopping to catch up with his animal friends.

Finally Davis finished his jobs and knew he deserved to relax. His father kept hiding the beers to prevent Davis from drinking it all but he always found it. That day was no different as Davis found the case of beer hidden inside of the tractor, with a grand total of 5 beers. Davis was in for a great night.

Despite the beer having a low percentage of alcohol, Davis could immediately feel the effects after his first bottle. He felt happier and more alive. He was laughing at his friends' jokes and his own.

"Hey, Harriet." Davis whispered, giggling to himself.

"D'you want a sip?"

Davis proceeded to give the pig some alcohol. He gave her a bit more than a sip but it wasn't like anyone was going to find.

Two drinks later and Davis was stumbling all over the place. He was having argument with every animal in the complex and had even challenged Harriet to a dance battle. Unfortunately it was Harriet who won. But Davis believed it to be a totally biased decision.

After three drinks, Davis wasn't going to remember anything else from the night and continued to let loose. His thoughts were all over the place and made him feel extremely dizzy.

An hour later, Davis found himself drinking the last of his alcohol. It must have been late because the only sound he could hear was his deafening laughter. The only other sound that disrupted the silence was a mooing sound from Tom the cow.

"What was that Tom?"

The cow mooed again, louder than the first time.

"You're gonna regret that Tom. You want to fight huh?" Davis laughed. "Well we're gonna wrestle with Harriet as referee."

The cow only mooed again.

Davis spent the next half an hour trying to wrestle the cow. He shouted horrific jokes that were meant to be insults but were funny rather than offensive.

The drunk boy had his legs wrapped around Tom's torso and his arms around the cow's neck when the door burst open and two angry figures approached. They began talking but Davis wasn't listening properly because he was too busy laughing at how weird it was watching mouths move upside down.

"Davis are you even listening? Get. Off. Of. The. Cow." His father not so kindly ordered.

Davis just let go. He just let himself drop to the floor, sending him into another fit of giggles. It ended when his brother Michael dragged him up and sniffed him.

"Ugh. You're drunk. Again."

"The cow has a name you know. It's Tom." Davis giggled, ignoring his brother completely.

"What on earth are you doing drinking in the farmhouse alone?" His father sighed.

"I'm not alone. I have Harriet and Tom." He pointed to the animals respectively.

His father and brother both took an arm and led the drunk, giggling boy out of the farmhouse. Before Davis fell asleep standing up, he heard his brother mutter a life changing sentence.

"The pig isn't even a bloody girl you idiot."

 **Lorraine Pastore**

 **18 years old**

 **District 10 Female**

"Why did it have to be my life that is such a cluster fuck?" Lorraine sighed, downing the rest of her red wine.

Having university brochures in front of her didn't help make her feel better or help make her decision any easier. Both the university in district 3 and the one in 5 had beautiful campuses but she had no clue on which one she should attend.

It had been a dream of Lorraine's to study biomedical engineering. She was forever grateful for getting a place in both universities, even if the one in 5 was fully funded but the one in 3 was only a partial. But there were numerous decisions which could be made with these placements.

Her boyfriend, Zander didn't help matters since he was on his way to the university in 3. She didn't want to go to the university just because he was going, but she did want to stay with him.

Then again there was always the option to stay in 10 and not go to university. She could just stay on the farm with the sheep for the rest of her life. But that would be boring and make her life an even bigger cluster fuck – feeding the same sheep, shaving the same sheep, seeing the same views every day.

The conflicting thoughts frustrated her and so she poured herself another glass of wine to try and ease her frustration.

Lorraine looked toward the clock on her bedside stand. It read 1:16am. She had to be up in 5 and a half hours but she was still stuck studying calculus. After all, if she actually wanted to get permanent place at any university she would have to pass calculus. Why did achieving her dreams have to be this hard?

Seconds of doing calculus felt like minutes and minutes felt like hours. But she was thankful to have her cats supporting her and encouraging her to work.

When a knock came at her window, Lorraine felt slight relief, there was something that could tear her away from calculus and the impending doom of her future.

She opened the window to find Zander smiling up at her. Lorraine smiled back, thankful to be distracted.

"I knew you'd be awake. Wanna come for a walk?" Zander asked.

"Definitely."

"We're gonna have to be careful though. There's a lot more peacekeepers around with the reaping a week away."

The two had a nice, quiet walk around the town, avoiding the peacekeepers stationed at every corner. The walk was refreshing and a breath of fresh air for Lorraine, it was like she didn't need to worry about anything when she was with Zander.

They stopped outside of a house that seemed to be alive and buzzing with energy. Lorraine soon realised it was Zander's house and there was some sort of party happening.

"Nope. No. No way am I going in there." Lorraine protested.

"Please? It'll be fun."

"But there's people there. People I don't know. So no thanks." And she turned to head in the opposite direction but her boyfriend grabbed her arm before she could go anywhere.

"You don't have to talk to anyone, you could just follow me around the whole time."

"I couldn't think of anything worse!" People who she didn't know and Lorraine weren't a good mix, but Lorraine and a large crowd were an even worse mix.

"Fine. How about we go straight to the garden and sit on the swing set?"

Lorraine agreed because it would be nice to stay with Zander a little while longer. Plus it would be a quiet place to talk about her problem regarding her university choice. However, the only way to the garden was through the mass of people in the house.

As soon as they opened the door, Lorraine could smell the stench of sweat, perfume and alcohol which was not at all nice.

She tried to ignore all of the people in the house and focus on Zander's back. She could feel her hands become clammy as they passed the biggest crowd of people. But before they reached the back door, Lorraine spotted a bottle of wine idle on the kitchen counter. She grabbed the bottle and two glasses for her and Zander.

Once the two had wiped the swings clean, they sat down and had a glass of wine. It was Lorraine's third but she felt fine and was in total control. After a while of silence between the two Zander finally spoke.

"I'm leaving for 3's university in two weeks."

"What? But that's so soon."

"Not really. Classes start in a month. When are you thinking of coming over to 3?" He asked.

Lorraine didn't want to answer the question because that was exactly what she had been trying to avoid all night.

"I haven't decided where I want to go yet."

"Oh. I kinda just assumed you were coming to 3 with me."

"I don't know. If I go to 5 I could do what you did. Spend two years there and then transfer to 3 with all of my fees paid for."

There was an awkward silence between the two that Lorraine didn't like. Why did he have to bring up university?

"When do you have to decide?"

"After the reaping." She sighed, feeling like she was getting nowhere with a decision.

"Lorraine – that's only a week away! You need to decide quickly otherwise you'll get to reaping day and be lost." Zander said, concerned for his girlfriend.

"I know. I know. But there's so many opportunities whatever route I go down."

"Have you thought of staying in district 10?"

"Obviously, but I just see myself going nowhere and living a boring life." Lorraine laughed, deciding that she would never stay here. It would drive her crazy.

"Good. Because you have so much potential and it would be a shame to waste it on the boring fields of 10."

Lorraine smiled, a genuine smile. She was finally getting closer to making a decision. Hopefully, she would have made up her mind before the reaping but in that moment she didn't have to worry. She could talk about all the bad things about district 10 with her boyfriend.

 **A.N: Hey guys! Hope you liked these two tributes. They were quite a challenge to write because I've never written comedy before (it's a lot harder than I thought lol). So it'll be interesting to keep up the challenge throughout the story. Plus it's hard to write with pressure XD**

 **But anyway, thank you to david12341 for Davis and TheEngineeringGames for Lorraine! They were really great to write and I have a lot planned for these two.**

 **So, what did you think of these two tributes? Who did you prefer? Is there anything you think I could write better or do to improve?**

 **QOTC: Which author wrote Animal Farm?**


	15. Chapter 15: D11 Intros

**Henry Prior**

 **18 years old**

 **District 11 Male**

Despite months passing, Henry still hadn't gotten used to working long, hot hours in the fields. He was still used to working in the grocery store where he didn't get sunburnt or have painful blisters on his hands and feet.

However, it was worth it since he was able to be with the woman he loved. He would endure endless amounts of torture if it meant he could be with Emilie.

The previous day had been the best of his life as he got to marry the girl who his heart had belonged to for years. But unfortunately his boss didn't care and gave him an early shift in the fields.

Henry wouldn't be in this position if it weren't for his parents. If they had just accepted the fact that he loved Emilie and gave their blessing for the wedding. Instead they refused to talk to him, fired him and kicked him out which resulted in him dropping out of school and having to get a job to survive.

In school Henry had always learnt that class differences were a thing of the past and the prejudices toward the lower class were vanishing but he knew now that that wasn't the case with his parents. They thought they were superior to Emilie and her mother just because they had more money.

Every minute that passed, Henry could feel his shoulders getting hotter and hotter and burning. He just hoped he could go on his break soon, to find the shade.

As it was time for his break his boss approached him.

"Henry. You're a strong lad. Work during your break and an extra hour on your shift and I'll pay you double."

Henry really wanted to decline the offer. He was tired and sore but they really did need the money. It could buy them a meal that they would have to skip due to the wedding fees.

"Sure." He smiled, doing what was best for his wife.

The hours felt like years and the work got harder as the time progressed. But in the end it was worth it, Henry got double the amount he was contracted to have which meant he could surprise his wife with a meal.

Unfortunately for him, before he could return home he had to do the thing he had been dreading for months. Collecting the rest of his stuff from his parents' house.

Walking toward the house where he had spent his childhood was frightening. He had had such an amazing childhood but all of those memories had been ruined with a few words. Why did his parents have to ruin everything? All he's ever done is love them.

It took ages for Henry to muster up the confidence to knock on the door. He feared his parents' reaction upon seeing the son who they disowned. Even worse, Henry feared his own reaction to seeing his parents; he wasn't sure if he could act so friendly toward them.

After knocking, he immediately regretted his decision and wanted to go home. But before he could his mother opened the door. Both stood there silently for a while until Henry decided to break the silence.

"Hey mum."

"Colin, I told you. I told you he'd realise we were right and come back to where he belongs. Welcome back Henry!"

His mother embraced him in a hug but it wasn't returned. Instead, Henry stood there awkwardly as his father rushed to the door.

"Mum. Mum. I'm not coming back. I'm just here to collect the rest of my stuff."

"Oh."

It seemed as though his parents had lost interest in him then and went back to being disappointed. Henry felt their eyes on him with every step he took.

It didn't take Henry long to gather up the rest of his things but as he went downstairs he was greeted again by his parents who looked like they were ready to lecture him.

"Henry, just leave that girl. She's no good and she's going to drag you down." His father said and Henry felt an urge to defend his wife.

"I love Emilie. I've got a job in the fields which is enough for us to survive. Plus I don't need money to be happy, I just need to be loved by my family – which obviously isn't you anymore." He hated being rude to his parents but they deserved it.

"The fields? That's the lowest of the low." His mother exclaimed, acting like it was the worst thing in the world.

"Mum, please. Why can't you just be happy for me?"

"Don't worry. You'll come running back to us. You'll see that she's not the woman you want to spend the rest of your life with."

"She's definitely the one mother. We got married yesterday and I made a promise."

His parents' faces went pale and they looked shocked. But Henry had told them months ago that the two were engaged, it shouldn't be too much of a surprise. However, the hurt look on both of their faces hurt Henry too. He never wanted to disappoint his parents, but they gave him no choice.

"What!"

"How could you do that to us?"

"I'm really sorry. But I love her."

"But you still have your last reaping left?"

"You guys made sure that my name's only in there a few time because of the luxurious life I've been given. And I'm grateful for that and I always will be."

His parents didn't even respond to that so Henry made his way to the door.

"I hope you guys will forgive me. I'd love to have a relationship with you still."

They slammed the door in his face.

 **Lacey Leeman**

 **12 years old**

 **District 11 Female**

It was Lacey's favourite day of the month. It was the last Thursday of the month which meant Lacey and her friends bunked off of school to go play in the forests.

Ivy refused her offer to play yet again but she assumed it was because he was working. Him being 15 and working made him seem like an adult in comparison to Lacey who was still stuck in school learning about the boring and long history of Panem.

Parsley and Angelica were still able to come play with her which meant they were going to go on exciting adventures.

"So, what are we going to do today?" Parsley asked, while venturing deeper into the forests of district 11.

"Oh, maybe we could go on an adventure to find more bugs. Or objects from the old world." Lacey suggested, excited to have a chance at finding more collectibles or even finding a new friend in a bug.

"No. That's so boring we did that last time." Angelica snapped, crossing her arms in annoyance.

Lacey didn't know how to respond. She certainly didn't find bug searching boring but they had done it last month so maybe it was someone else's turn to decide.

"Why we try to climb that tree?" Parsley suggested, pointing to the tallest tree in the area. Immediately Lacey's spirits were buzzing and ready for an adventure.

Each girl had a different tactic of climbing the tree. Parsley bear hugged the tree and tried to slow shift upward but failed miserably. Angelica tried using pieces of bark on the trunk of the tree as grooves to climb on but also failed. Lacey failed too but her idea got her the further up the tree than the other two girls combined. She used the branches of multiple trees to climb higher and higher.

The higher she got the more thrilling the experience. Lacey saw this as another adventure and at the top of the tree was a reward – maybe some sweets, or a new friend. She was determined to reach the top.

However, the higher she got the thinner the branches became. Soon her friends looked like small figures on the ground.

"Hey, Lacey. Maybe you should come down now. It's a bit high."

"I'm fine. I'm nearly at the top." She called back down to her friends.

Lacey was right. At the top was a reward. A colourful little beetle was crawling up the tree. It was a new friend who she was ready to take home and look after.

The branches prevented Lacey from moving up any further but the beetle was in reaching distance. So she reached. But before she could comprehend what was happening her foot slipped and she fell from the tree and hit the floor.

Her friends were by her side straight away asking if she was okay. Lacey just smiled and open her hand. The beautiful beetle appeared and she promised to protect it.

"Lacey what the hell! You frightened us." Angelica shouted.

"I'm sorry. But I made a new friend – meet Holly."

Lacey could already feel the bruises forming over her body from the fall but it was worth it to make a new friend.

The rest of their adventure was incredible. They ventured further into the forest than they ever had before and found some pretty feathers to add to her book.

Soon the day was over and Lacey had to get home. Before she left, Angelica pulled her over to the side.

"Lacey I forgot to give this to you earlier. I hope your aunt managed to find some decent food for you for tonight." She said and handed Lacey an apple that seemed like it was going out of date but was still a luxury for the girl.

"Thank you." She said to her friend who was bound to go home and be presented with a fancy meal.

Lacey didn't mind. Her sister and aunt were alive and that was all that mattered. It was nice to get food scraps from Angelica though – especially when it was cake!

Aunt Astrid had done more than enough for Lacey and her older sister by taking them in when their mother died and father left. She didn't have to do that – she was only 17 and had her whole life ahead of her.

Her aunt was one of her best friends now. She did whatever she could to fend for Lacey and Wisteria. Astrid did all of the work to get the money for them to survive just so the two siblings could get a decent education.

However, this year Lacey and Wisteria decided to return the enormous favour by taking out one lot of tesserae each. It enabled their aunt to spend some of her hard earnt money on herself for a chance.

When she arrived home she was greeted by her aunt while her sister stayed silent in the corner of the room.

"Meet Holly." Lacey beamed, shoving the colourful beetle in Astrid's face.

 **A.N: Ahhh, only one more reaping to go! I'm so excited :D**

 **These two tributes were great to write so thank you to paperairline for Lacey and The Lonely Geek for Henry.**

 **So, did you like these tributes? Who did you prefer? Is there anyone so far you think would be good in an alliance together?**

 **QOTC: This is not a fact question, I'm just curious. What are the stereotypes you associate with England and English people?**


	16. Chapter 16: D12 Intros

**Crane Marcus-Hall**

 **18 years old**

 **District 12 Male**

Crane couldn't bring himself to climb out of bed that morning. He was too tired and would rather stay under the covers. Eventually he decided to go back to sleep for half an hour, it should help him be less tried yet still give him enough time to get ready and eat breakfast.

Just as he was about to go back to sleep, his door burst open to reveal his best friend, Senna.

"Don't you know how to knock?"

"Don't you know what an alarm clock means?" His friend mocked, pulling the covers off of him despite his attempt to pull them back onto him.

"Just let me go back to sleep."

"Nope. School's soon and breakfast is even sooner."

"Whatever." Crane muttered and actually got out of bed.

He didn't hate school but it wasn't his favourite place either. He was surrounded by people who couldn't do the simplest of tasks. Crane was far too smart for them.

Plus some _still_ thought Crane and Senna were a couple. Which always disgusted him since the two were step siblings and best friends.

Crane tried to push the stubborn girl out of his room but she was a lot stronger than he was.

"Can you move?"

Senna began to walk out of the door but she turned back to him and smirked. "You know, next time you want to try and push me out of your room you should lift a few weights first."

"With what time?" Crane rolled his eyes. Between studying, reading and hanging out with Senna he had no spare time.

"How about instead of reading until 1am, you lift some weights instead."

"You know that wouldn't work. You're just jealous that I'm smarter than you." Crane joked. He knew she was just as smart but not a lot of people did. They always saw Crane as the brain of the friendship and Senna as the brawn.

"Come on. We all know everyone would rather be the brawn than the brainy weirdo."

"Wow. You're even dumber than I thought."

Senna left the room and Crane was left alone to get ready for the day ahead. It was one of the only moments in the day he was alone.

For the rest of the day it would mostly be spent alongside Senna. He loved that. He was extremely grateful for his best friend. They never got bored of each other, in fact they made each other laugh even more every day. Crane would spend every spare minute with his friend if he could because they're the best versions of each other when they're together.

When he was ready, Crane went downstairs to find both of his mother's cooking waffles. He saw Senna at the table with widened eyes and a panicked look on her face. The pair of them knew what it meant when both mums were cooking waffles. Waffle competition.

It sounded a lot nicer than it was. Crane's biological mother, Anthracite made the worst waffles. Whereas his step mother, Celandine made the most delicious waffles. But both children were forced to eat so many waffles that it hurt to move. To top it off they had to lie to his mother and say they were nice, even if they weren't.

"Good luck." Senna whispered to him.

As their mothers handed them a plate with the waffles, Crane prepared himself. He was worried as he brought the fork with Anthracite's waffle on closer to his mouth.

But he was shocked when it actually tasted nice. Senna looked just as surprised and even took a bite of Celandine's waffle to make sure they hadn't been switched.

"Anthracite, it's delicious. What did you do to it?" Senna asked.

"Maybe she took the poison out." Crane joked before he realised what he had actually said.

"I'm going to pretend you didn't just say that." His mother said while taking out a piece of crinkled paper from her pocket.

"It's your father's recipe. I found it in a box, along with this." And she revealed his father's wedding.

Crane hugged his mother. She had always been the kindest person he had met and loved him unconditionally.

His father had passed away from pneumonia when Crane was only 6 years old. It had been heart breaking for both him and his mother. But she remained strong for him.

Eventually Celandine came around and was perfect for his mother. She made her smile and was just as kind.

Crane loved each member of his family and wouldn't be who he was if none of them had been in his life.

He sat and watched his best friend, and two mothers at the table eating and laughing with each other. It made him smile. Crane just hoped that this happiness could last forever.

 **Pana Fyta**

 **14 years old**

 **District 12 Female**

At first they said it was a miracle. It was in every newspaper and everyone knew about it. Then they started calling it luck, it was a fluke – there must have been someone down there helping her. Perhaps it was a Capitol experiment. However, once they had heard from Pana, they called it a mistake. She never should have been rescued, they should have left her down there to die. The district doesn't need a despicable person like Pana.

You see, when Pana was a child she was abandoned in the mineshafts of district. Her parents completely disappeared but the people of district twelve rallied and protested for peacekeepers to go in and find her.

The mayor finally agreed and people were in the mines for a month looking for Pana. The whole district was in mourning when it was predicted that the young child was probably dead.

However, Pana survived. All on her own. She survived for years without getting help from others, it was the same now she was outside.

Her eyes had accustomed to darkness and she was able to see extremely well in the darkness. But now whenever there were bright lights, her eyes would burn or she would get a very painful headache. She wouldn't take any medication from the peacekeepers either due to the fact that she didn't trust them whatsoever.

Pana had to become violent to survive. There wasn't a local market she could go to just to get food. Instead she hunted, or stole the food that other creatures had hunted. This meant that she had to attack the cat sized rats and the dog sized creatures which Pana never knew existed before she was abandoned.

None of this was her fault. It was her parents' for abandoning her in the first place. It was the district's fault for giving up. They didn't even try to find a body.

Instead, everyone seemed to blame her. Why else would she be chained up in a jail cell? Why else would they be treating her like dirt?

They had tried to place her in an orphanage when she was first found but Pana had lost her manners and pleasant attributes when she was abandoned. The other kids tried to talk to her and befriend her but there was no chance Pana was going to be nice to the people who abandoned her.

That's why she snarled at everyone who tried to approach her or talk to her. She hated them and just wanted to get away from them. However, the outside world was so different from the mines and so different from what she remembered. It frightened her that she had no one and that she didn't fit in anywhere. It was better for her to push everyone away and make everyone frightened of her to distract her from being frightened of everyone else.

It could also be the reason she bit one of the girls from the orphanage. Her teeth ripped straight through the flesh and took as large chunk out. The taste of human blood was a lot different to that in rats.

It was immediately after that they threw her in a cell. She liked being alone and in the dark but it angered her how they treated her like she was inferior to them when they were the ones who abandoned her in the first place. They were the reason why she didn't act in the same manner as everybody else.

There was an inkling of hope for Pana as she kept hearing her guards talking about an event which was supposed to occur the next day. From what she heard, it was something called a reaping and Pana would be out of the cell but still in chains.

One of the guards peeked through the slit in the door to look and Pana but she jumped up toward him and snarled. He stepped back in fear.

Pana was satisfied. She was also anticipating the following day where she could find out what this reaping was and she could mess with the guards a little more.

 **A.N: And that concludes the reapings! I'm so excited for the rest of this story because I have so much planned. All of the pre-games chapters are planned and each tribute will have 1 POV before the bloodbath to make it fair.**

 **Thank you to finn15 for Crane and to Readermaster for Pana. They were both a joy to write.**

 **QOTC: What is Spiderman's real name?**

 **See you next time where we check in with Janus for the reaping recaps! :)**


	17. Chapter 17: Reaping Recap

**Janus Megalos**

 **President of Panem**

Janus had been up all night analysing each and every document that Selene had found but there was only one he was interested in. It was an old document that was tearing at the edges and had turned a shade of off white.

However, the writing was the important part. It seemed to be a contract from 172 years ago. It was a contract for the Hunger Games but Janus couldn't figure out what it meant exactly.

Suddenly, Selene burst through the door looking just as tired as him but carrying two coffees and a ton of papers. Both could use a coffee to keep them awake during the reapings which were due to start soon.

"Selene. What does this mean?" He asked, still trying to figure out the Hunger Games contract.

As soon as the young girl read the paper, she kept rereading it to ensure she was seeing correctly. Judging by the look on her face it was yet another bad thing for them.

"We can't stop the games. Even if we wanted to."

"What do you mean?"

"It says here that we can't end the Hunger games or the whole country is taken over by external forces. It's signed by President Alexander himself."

President Alexander was the one who started the games but only intended for it to be a short term punishment. Why would he ensure it continued forever?

None of it made sense and it made Janus feel even more defeated. Their last chance was the artificial humans who would fight for Panem, hopefully bringing a victory. However, that depended on the tributes of this years' Hunger Games. He hoped for strong, obedient or intelligent tributes.

"I do have a bit of good news though." Selene piped up.

"What is it?"

"I've been up all night on the phone with the Head of state from a country called Ireland. He says that the Republic of Ireland are willing to ally with us and go undercover in Britain to see what's happening."

"Why would they do that though?"

"It seems like they hate Britain. A lot. Something to do with a crappy government who always have their own agendas."

"That's great! Thank you so much Selene!"

Finally, something was going well for them. It instilled some hope in Janus. Maybe they could actually do this after all.

"Oh! The reapings are starting."

Janus and Selene made themselves comfortable on the couch ready to see which tributes would help them win this war.

As always district 1 was up first and it was no surprise that there were two volunteers from the career district.

The girl, Tangent, seemed like a strong tribute. However, she didn't look like the typical tribute that One usually sent to the games. There was something about the girl that intrigued Janus, she didn't seem totally confident walking up to the stage but perhaps it was just nerves.

"Tangent is an obscure name for district 1. Plus her hair has obviously been dyed." Selene commented.

The boy was the same boy Janus had seen the previous week in the mentor's programme – the one with the purple bandana. He seemed confident and bubbly as he walked up to the stage. Extravagance also looked strong, like he would be leader of the career pack this year.

The Two tributes were interesting. There was something so similar between the two but Janus couldn't quite work out what it was.

When Aelia volunteered there was a woman at the side of the screen crying but the girl seemed to give the woman a reassuring smile. The girl from Two looked proud and confident but Janus sensed that she wasn't arrogant.

It was peculiar when the boy, Tarquin volunteered because the woman at the bottom of the screen seemed to burst into even more tears.

Tarquin had a slight smirk on his face and when the two tributes shook hands there was an understanding between the pair.

"Selene, would you mind looking into both of their histories please. I feel like there's something that we don't know."

"Sure."

The pair from District 3 were up next. The girl took a while to come up to the stage. At first Janus thought it was due to being frightened but when Margit was pushed from the 17 year old section she looked almost, happy? That was very unusual for District 3.

Duplo looked surprised when he approached the stage but no other emotions crossed his face until he had to shake hands with his district partner. Duplo looked sceptical as he looked at Margit and it made Janus wonder – did these two know each other previously?

The volunteers from 4 also looked strong which made Janus confident that there was a high chance of another career victory.

Ripley's face was void of any emotion as she walked up to the stage and as she looked out into the crowd but as her district partner volunteered, there was a hesitant look in her eyes.

Hudson had a pleasant smile plastered on his face as he volunteered and kept it up throughout the reaping. Hopefully the boy would follow the orders from those above him so Panem could be victorious.

Janus felt bad for the young girl of District 5. As she approached the stage she was close to tears and began to hyperventilate. It took a while for her to reach the stage but when she did, she tried to remain as quiet as she could. He predicted that the girl could earn sponsors but he just hoped that she survived the bloodbath.

"I want her to win." Selene declared.

"We haven't even seen all of the tributes yet."

"I don't care. She's already my favourite."

Spark cried as they walked up to the stage but there was a determined look in their eye. When they were on the stage, they corrected the escort on their pronouns. Janus was glad that Panem could use the correct pronouns for them, which could hopefully boost their confidence in themselves.

Perona seemed like a sweet girl but she couldn't handle being reaped and peacekeepers had to drag the screaming girl to the stage. Janus didn't think the girl would go very far but he hoped she would put up a fight.

For some reason Selene found it hilarious when Jester was reaped. The boy walked up to the stage with clenched fists and an angry expression. Selene thought that the fact that the boy was totally different to what his name suggested was the funniest thing in the world. Janus blamed the lack of sleep on his friend's delirium.

However, soon Janus recognised the boy from somewhere and told Selene to make a note of the boy and look into his history.

The 12 year old girl, Nicole stepped into the isle obediently and made her way up onto the stage as soon as her name was called. If one looked closely enough, they would be able to see the young girl's hands shaking in fear.

Janus admired this girl for trying so hard to put on a brave face for herself, her family and for her district. He believed that she could go far if she really tried to.

The boy, Hector was the complete opposite. He looked furious and refused to move. Peacekeepers had to drag him to the stage but it took a while because Hector was so stubborn.

On the stage, Hector seemed to have calmed down until he was face to face with his escort. He proceeded to kick her, so hard that she stumbled back and fell of the stage. The district seemed to get a laugh out of this but Hector and Nicole were immediately escorted inside the justice buildings by peacekeepers.

It was understandable why the boy reacted like that – not a lot of people want to go into an arena where they have to fight to the death. But Janus would still have to have a talk with the young boy, he needed to understand that his actions were not acceptable. Despite this, Janus thought that the boy would get a lot of Capitol sponsors and be popular due to his spunk.

Neither of the District 8 tributes made any fuss when walking up to the stage. But the district didn't seem to care about either of them and already looked like they had lost hope for their two tributes.

Evanna looked confident as she walked up to the stage and started directly into the cameras, obviously knowing she would need powerful sponsors to help her. There were also shouts from the crowd which Janus assumed were family and friends. Evanna looked in their direction and her eyes portrayed the determination that was building up inside.

Orion seemed void of any emotion and ignored everyone and everything around him as he approached the stage, he almost looked detached from the situation. His expression was set in stone and didn't change the whole time he was on stage.

Bran Miller was such a stereotypical name for District 9, that Janus thought it was some sort of prank. But when a boy stepped out from the 16 year old section, Janus was amazed how this was the first time where someone with a stereotypical name was actually reaped under Janus' presidency.

Bran was startled like a deer in the headlights. It took him a few seconds to collect himself and when he did, the boy looked kind and willing to help anybody out.

Verity looked disappointed when she was walking toward the stage but held her head up high nonetheless. Upon the stage she leaned forward, to the microphone.

"At least I can go out singing and seeing the world."

The girl joined hands with Bran and the two got a loud applause which was unusual for District 9.

"Janus, look at Verity's hat."

"That's a beret right? What's wrong with that?"

"But that has been banned in Panem for 100 years. The only way someone would know that that hat exists is if they knew its heritage."

"So, you're saying that she knows about France still existing?"

"It's a possibility."

"Well, we'll keep an eye on her." Janus replied, suddenly wondering if more people knew about the outside world than he thought.

As Lorraine Pastore was reaped and began to walk to the stage, Janus thought District 10 would be the typical nice, calm tributes. That changed as soon as the cameras started to zoom into Lorraine's face. The whole country was able to see Lorraine repeating 'oh fuck' over and over again.

Luckily, the camera team picked up on this and zoomed back out. But as soon as the girl got to the stage, the microphones began to pick up her muttering of 'oh fuck' which sent the district into a fit of laughter. However, it didn't fully manage to calm Lorraine down.

The microphones had to be turned off too so the escort had to scream the name of the male tribute. Janus hoped that the boy would be a better tribute to prevent the reaping from being a total failure.

Davis Eques was the male tribute. When he walked up to the stage, the boy was laughing? That was something that Janus definitely hadn't seen from a District 10 tribute before.

Of course the one microphone that was still on managed to pick up Davis' reaction to the reaping:  
"Shit, haha. That's dope."

The district burst into another fit of laughter and it took ages to calm down because Davis continued to act like a total idiot. He pointed finger guns at the camera and high fived the escort and Lorraine, which actually seemed to calm the girl down.

"What is happening? Who are these two and why are they ruining the reaping?" Janus whined, furious at the two.

"You have to admit that it's kind of funny."

"There's no way I'm using either of their cells."

"I don't think you have a choice. We need all of the DNA we can get."

Janus started sulking, acting even more immature than the two District 10 tributes. It took ages for everything to calm down before the District 11 reapings to start.

The young girl was petrified. Lacey began to scream and began to run toward someone in the adult crowd. Eventually peacekeepers had to chain her hands and drag her up to the stage whilst she was still screaming.

Out of the corner of his eye, Janus could see Selene's heart breaking for the young girl. He knew that Lacey would be a favourite of Selene's and year after year he hated to see her get attached to someone who died and break her heart even more.

Henry also looked petrified as he walked to the stage but once he had reached the stage, there was a girl trying to push her way toward the tribute. Both had tears streaming down their face while Henry promised he would win for the girl. Janus wondered what type of relationship the two had.

District 11 had proved to be the complete opposite of the previous district by being heartfelt and heart breaking instead of crazy and a complete mess.

It was time for the final reapings of the 172nd Hunger Games, it was time for District 12.

At first Janus thought that a criminal had been reaped but then he faintly remembered reading a news article on the girl who got abandoned in the mines.

Pana bounded onto the stage, obviously glad to be free of her chains. But Janus suspected that she had no clue what she was heading into.

The girl started to snarl at the cameras and snarl at her district, which earned her glares from the entire crowd. Janus had a feelings she wasn't going to be too popular with the Capitol or her fellow tributes.

Crane was nowhere near as happy as Pana was. Instead he avoided eye contact with everyone and ignored everything the escort was saying – most likely due to the fact that he was gritting his teeth to prevent his tears from falling.

Eventually, the reapings concluded and Janus was confident the tributes this year would help him save Panem – well except for a few.

"There's such a good bunch this year." Selene buzzed.

"Yes. Keep an eye on the few we talked about?"

"Sure. But you might wanna talk to the Irish Head of State soon."

"I'll go do it now!"

"Nope. You should get some sleep. You look like death Janus."

"Well, so do you. You know what, why don't take you take the day off?"

"I'll take a few hours off because if you haven't noticed we're a bit busy."

Selene was right. They needed a break to rest but they also needed to keep working. Eventually the two came to an agreement. Both would work during the day but throughout the night until the early morning they would work shifts while the other sleep.

This would be until the tributes actually set foot in the arena. Then Janus and Selene's life would descend into chaos.

 **A.N: So now the fun starts. I have so much planned for the pre-games and to make up for each tribute only having 1 POV, they will be long ones and the chapters will be at least this long.**

 **Did you like this chapter? Who are you're favourites? Which tribute interactions would you like to see? And any alliances you would like to see?**

 **Next up is the train rides!**

 **QOTC: What is the name of Katniss Everdeen's sister?**


	18. Chapter 18: Train Rides

**Hector dela Goya**

 **12 years old**

 **District 7 Male**

After Hector's outburst during the reapings, the peacekeepers kept him in handcuffs all the way to the train. He thought it was unfair of them to do so since it was the stupid escort's fault that he had been reaped to fight in an arena until he died. Hector didn't understand how his district partner had remained so calm.

District 7 never had hope whenever a child under the age of 15 was reaped. However, when the peacekeepers marched Hector and Nicole to the train there was actually a crowd of people clapping for them. Sure, it wasn't the cheers the older volunteers got but it was still more than what the younger kids normally got.

Among the crowd, Hector even saw his friends clapping enthusiastically for him. He was glad that his friends had forgotten about the situation which had occurred a few days ago.

Sami came out the worst from the situation – having a broken nose, black eye and two fractured ribs. The others just had a few cuts and bruises but the next day they all knocked on Hector's door asking him to play like normal. Hector knew his friends wouldn't leave him. He was just too awesome.

Sami seemed disappointed in him but there was no reason for him to be. Hector was one of the best of friends a kid could have.

His friends were distraught when saying goodbye, they couldn't believe Hector had been reaped. They were losing someone so important to them. Hector told them that he'd come back but all of them didn't fully believe the statement.

On the train, Hector refused to speak to or acknowledge the escort despite her efforts to make conversation. It seemed as though his district partner wasn't so keen to speak to anyone either but for completely different reasons.

Nicole was a quiet person that Hector hadn't managed to figure out yet. He didn't trust her yet and didn't know if he would but Hector knew that he trusted her a lot more than he did his mentors and escort.

They were told that it would be a long train ride to the Capitol and there was no way Hector could sit in silence for the whole journey. He wanted to get to know Nicole to see if he could trust her. He also couldn't figure out whether the girl was strong as she looked when she was reaped or whether she was as physically weak as she looked.

"So," He turned to the girl. "How long d'you think they're gonna keep me in these stupid cuffs?"

The girl only shrugged her shoulders in reply in which Hector responded with an exasperated sigh and rolled his eyes.

"I'm afraid they're going to on until we reach the Capitol." Hesper, one of Seven's mentors replied.

"Wait, what!"

"Anyway, Silvan and I are going to try our hardest to get one of you home. We've decided that Silvan will mentor Nicole and I'll mentor Hector." Hesper said, choosing to completely ignore Hector.

Hector was glad he didn't have Silvan as a mentor since he thought the man was extremely weird. But he wasn't too thrilled to have Hesper mentor him either, how could someone who volunteered to kill kids ever be trusted?

"Nicole, Isla and I will go into another carriage to talk strategy." Silvan stated looking to the empty space to the left of him.

"Who the hell is Isla?" Hector was very confused and very weirded out.

"My fictional being. We all have one."

"That's utter rubbish, it makes no sense." The 22 year old looked hurt but Hector was just being honest.

"Come on, Hector. We'll move into a different carriage instead." Hesper stated, looking extremely tired.

"Actually. Nicole and I would rather stay here and talk privately about strategies for a while."

"We do?" Nicole muttered under her breath. They were the first words Hector had heard the girl speak.

Both victors looked at each other warily but decided to let them have a while longer to talk. The two 12 year olds had half an hour before their mentors came back.

"Sorry you got the short end of the stick mentor wise." He laughed.

"I actually think Silvan seems quite nice." Nicole said timidly. Hector also noticed that the girl wouldn't stop fingering the hem of her sleeve, showing her true nervousness.

"Maybe. But does nice ever win the Hunger Games?"

"Silvan did, didn't he?"

"There's no way you can kill and be nice at the same time. To win you have to be selfish." Hector stated, refusing to let Nicole have the last word on the matter. He deemed himself successful when she just shrugged her shoulders in response.

There was something about Nicole that Hector recognized. Had they met before? That couldn't be possible – surely he would have remembered that?

He was about to ask her if they had known each other at some point when he saw a stack of papers on the table next them. Then it hit him; she was the girl who had bumped into him a few days ago which slowed him down and nearly got him caught by the older kids.

"Hey! You're the one who bumped into me the other day. You know you could have seriously caused me injury."

"I'm sorry?" Nicole said hesitantly.

"That's okay." Hector realized that Nicole could be a perfect ally. She was quiet and it seemed as though the two wouldn't clash which would be perfect in the games. She also realized when she was wrong and even apologized. Of course, Hector didn't trust her yet but Nicole seemed trustworthy, especially compared to the other reaped tributes who they had seen on the TV.

"Want to be allies?" He said bluntly.

Nicole seemed to mull this over for a while, probably thinking of all the pros and cons. But eventually she smiled and handed Hector a swan that had been crafted into a beautiful swan.

"Why not."

"Wow. This is beautiful."

"Thanks!" Nicole replied, grateful for the compliment. But Hector thought she deserved it. It must take patience and skill to make something so delicate and beautiful, qualities Hector didn't possess.

"Could you teach me how to make one of those, please?"

"Sure. When you're not in handcuffs and we're not on a moving train."

Hector chucked a little but didn't have the patience to wait. Plus it just reminded him that he still had the stupid handcuffs on.

"Also, I think our half hour is up." Nicole said, nodding toward their mentors.

"Hector, we'll go into the other carriage."

"Hesper? Could Nicole and I be mentored together since we're going to be allying? Please."

The two victors gave each other that weird look again. A look that they knew something terrible that Nicole and Hector didn't know. But soon they both nodded and sat, ready to talk angles and strategies.

For hours the four of them sat and talked about different ways Nicole and Hector could approach the games and ways they could get sponsors. Nicole thought they should just be themselves but Hector was worried for her since she was so quiet. Hesper kept highlighting the importance of learning how to kill but in a specific way.

They arrived at the Capitol quicker than Hector thought they would. The cheers and screams from the crowd outside were louder than the ones in district 7.

But Hector couldn't believe he would set his first foot on Capitol ground wearing handcuffs. How unfair was that?

However, his escort walked up to him with a key and unlocked his handcuffs. Perhaps the escort was good for something.

Before the doors of the train opened, Hector ran over to the table and grabbed a few of Nicole's origami pieces and shoved them into her arms. The Capitol deserved to see how talented Nicole was with a sheet of paper.

 **Orion Cornell**

 **16 years old**

 **District 8 Male**

Since he had been reaped, everything had been a blur. Orion had tried to detach himself from the whole situation but despite how hard he tried, there was no way to forget about being sent to fight for his life.

The citizens of District Eight didn't seem to care about either of tributes for the Games this year. Sure, they may not have cared about a 16 year old orphan but his district partner looked pretty confident and strong when she walked up to the stage.

But when they were on the train, Orion noticed how scared the girl really was. Her goodbyes had gone on for a lot longer than his had so he guessed that she was more shaken up about the people she could potentially never see again.

Evanna had some muscles despite being young and from District 8. There was no reason for her to be scared. The Capitol would love her and he was sure that she could put on a show for them if she really tried.

Orion on the other hand would never succeed. If he couldn't wash dishes properly how was he going to be able to kill people?

He hated how weak he was in comparison. That was accentuated further when they watched the rest of the reapings. Most tributes were older, well fed and looked lethal in one way or another. When Orion saw himself, he realized how stupid he looked in comparison. None of his features screamed out 'future victor'.

"Why are you glaring at yourself on TV?" Evanna's question startled him and he lost his self-destructive train of thought.

"Oh, it's nothing."

"It's obviously not nothing. You look like you're about to kill the you on the screen."

After a few seconds of thinking, Orion thought that there was no harm in opening up to the girl. Perhaps she'd even want to ally with him.

"Just look how stupid I look! You look super strong for a 15 year old, all of the careers looked so confident and then there's me who's just a scrawny kid who everyone will forget about in no time."

Orion could feel a ball of familiar anger building up inside of him. It felt like the teacup situation all over again but this time the feeling hadn't been building up for weeks but it had never come on this suddenly before. What was wrong with him?

"Hey, that's not true. You look like you're casually walking to the shops, not even phased by the games. The Capitol will love that."

"I just feel like I'm a failure to my parents and myself. If they were alive I'm sure they would have put me in the orphanage anyway."

"If you're parents were alive I'm sure they would love you with all their heart. You seem like a great guy and you shouldn't put yourself down."

"How about you?" Orion asked the girl, who was still shaking with nerves.

"What do you mean?"

"You're nervous. Look, you're even shaking and I definitely know it's not because you're cold."

"My mum and my siblings. They've already lost my father, I can't let them lose me too. I don't know what it would do to them."

"You have a good chance of being successful in these games. Whatever you do, do it fighting and with passion. Even if you do die, your family will know you tried your best and you never gave up. They'll look up to you no matter what."

"But if I die, I'll never be there to help them again. What if one of them is reaped too?" Evanna replied, growing more frantic with every word she said.

"They'll think of you. Think of how you fought so hard. Think about you did anything to get back to them. And they will do the same.

"Thank you." The girl said and surprised him but giving him a hug. Orion didn't realise how much he needed a hug too.

"No, thank _you_."

Evanna was a massive help. She had made him see that he was over reacting and there had to be at least one Capitolite who was willing to sponsor him. They helped each other and got on well. Orion was about to ask her to be his ally when their mentors came in.

"Right. There's no time to dilly dally, we've not got a lot of time to help you guys prepare." Angora Krall said to them. Not once did her expression look anything other than void of any emotion.

"So Angora will be mentoring Orion and I'll be mentoring Evanna. Unless you guys wanted to ally and be mentored together?" Tyria Powell said, almost cheerfully.

Orion turned toward his district partner, ready to ask if she wanted to ally but she immediately cut him off.

"No thank you. I think it's better if we're mentored separately."

Their mentors looked at each other, seemingly relieved. It was weird but he guessed it didn't really matter.

Of course Orion was a bit hurt because he thought that they had gotten on well and understood each other. It also confused him because he thought they could have really helped each other during the games. But it wasn't like he could force the girl to ally with him.

Evanna must have noticed his confusion and apologised.

"I'm sorry Orion, but I will do anything for my family and I don't think it's best for us to be allies."

"No, I understand. I'd be the same."

"Honestly, with the plans I have, you're better off in another alliance far away from me."

The girl had a crazed look in her eye as she said this and Orion had no clue how to react. He hadn't seen this side of Evanna yet and now he was kind of glad he didn't have to anymore.

"Don't worry Orion, you can still have some fun without Evanna." Tyria spoke. How was this woman so optimistic after going through the Hunger Games?

"The Hunger Games are not fun, Tyria. Please take this seriously." Angora spoke down to her fellow mentor like she was talking to a young child.

Tyria and Evanna went into another carriage which left Orion with the intimidating Angora Krall. She kept firing questions at him that he had no clue what the answer was. His anger toward himself started to build up again but this time there was no one there to help him.

If he couldn't decide what angle he wanted to present to the Capitol then how would he get sponsors? If Orion didn't know what type of allies he wanted how was he going to find any he could trust?

With every question, Orion got angrier at himself. But Angora remained patient and never looked at him judgingly. He dug his nails into his hands every time he felt his anger boil even more and soon realised that he had opened up his wound from the teacup.

"Orion, are you okay?"

"Yes. I'm fine thanks. Why?"

"Because you dug your nails into your hands so much that they're bleeding."

"I just feel like a failure." Orion was annoyed at himself for having to have this conversation twice in the space of an hour. He felt like a burden.

"You're definitely not a failure. This is your chance to prove to yourself and to others that you are not a failure but a determined, strong young man. You just have to be willing to let me help you." Angora was actually pretty good at giving advice and was friendlier than Orion thought she was going to be.

"I'm in. I'm ready to be the victor of the 172nd Hunger Games." And just like that Orion's mood had switched back to being somewhat positive again.

 **A.N: I'm still here lol. Sorry for the delay, I just lost the energy and motivation to function for a few weeks. But I hope all of you are doing well.**

 **So here we have the first pre-games chapter and Hector and Orion have returned for their train ride. Did you like the chapter? Was there anything you didn't expect here? If your tribute was mentioned here, is there anything you weren't happy with?**

 **QOTC: Guess who hasn't started revising for exams which are in three months and edging ever closer? T.T**

 **See you next time when we check in with one of the District 10 tributes and their mentor :D**


	19. Chapter 19: A Night On The Roof

**Kelby Lister**

 **D10 Mentor and Victor of the 169** **th** **Hunger Games**

 **21 years old**

Kelby loved both of the district 10 tributes. He hoped that the two decided to ally so he could help mentor them both.

The young victor had been howling with laughter during the reaping and hadn't been that entertained since before his games. He was so excited to work with kids who were as crazy as him. It was such a shame that his moody co-mentor had to dampen the mood whenever he entered a room.

From the moment Peyton had been reaped to present day, he had always hated Kelby. It always frustrated Kelby since he didn't do anything wrong. Plus, how could Peyton hate the boy who helped him become victor? He was the reason the boy lived.

Obviously Peyton had not been impressed with the events of the reaping and began to complain to Kelby straight after.

"Well, that was a shit show. What are we going to do?" The youngest victor sighed.

"Shit show? That was the best thing I've ever seen. We're gonna have so much fun with these guys Peyton!"

"Fun? _Fun_? This is the Hunger Games Kelby. Can you just take something seriously for once in your life because today it's not your life on the line."

There was no doubt that Kelby was already willing to do anything to try and save both tributes. But only one of them, if that would make it out of the arena alive. So why not give them the time of their lives before they entered the arena?

"I would do anything to keep those kids alive. But what's the harm in letting them enjoy themselves before their world is destroyed?"

"Oh, we all know you would do _anything_ and more." Peyton spat, walking away and ending the conversation.

"What's that supposed to mean? I got you out of that arena alive by working my ass off." Kelby refused the leave the conversation there. His fellow mentor took every opportunity to insult Kelby and he was sick of it.

"No. _I_ got myself out of that arena. Alone. You didn't send me a single sponsor gift."

"That's because you didn't need it."

"Didn't need it? I nearly died of dehydration, Kelby. I crawled for days looking for water. You decided to spend it all on Carissa."

"How can you even say that? I was a mess trying to help you survive." Kelby started but soon realised he was basically talking to a brick wall since Peyton refused to listen, turning his back to Kelby.

The two mentors sat in silence for another hour, watching the scenery of the wealthier districts whiz by as the train passed.

"I'll mentor Lorraine and you can mentor Davis." Peyton spoke up without looking at his former mentor.

Kelby was fine with that decision since he thought Davis' energy matched his own. However, he still hoped both tributes would ally with each other so he can help them both.

"Also, Davis' family says he drinks quite a bit of alcohol and that he's a lightweight. So please don't let him have any alcohol."

Oh, Kelby was definitely going to give the boy some alcohol.

As Peyton walked out of the carriage, Kelby couldn't help but stare at his retreating figure. No matter how immature his fellow mentor was, there was always something that intrigued Kelby and he wished he could just be friends with him.

The train was only minutes away from the Capitol when Kelby and Peyton entered the tributes' carriage. Both mentors were greeted with Davis and Lorraine laughing hysterically at something.

"Hey guys." Kelby spoke, glad that the two seemed to be getting on well.

"Hi." Lorraine said sheepishly but with a grin on her face.

Davis greeted Kelby and Peyton with an enthusiastic high five and it did make Kelby wonder whether the boy knew that he had just been chosen to fight to the death.

"So, I'll be mentoring Lorraine and Kelby will be mentoring Davis. If that's fine with you guys?"

"Actually, Lorraine and I want to be allies."

"That's great. But before we discuss tactics, we have to get off of the train. Make sure you put on another great show for the Capitol." Kelby winked and glanced toward his fellow mentor; who was smiling but his eyes told a completely different story.

Kelby put his arm around Peyton and laughed while ruffling his hair, knowing it would annoy him.

"This is going to be so much fun."

"This is going to be the longest two weeks of my life." Peyton sighed while pushing Kelby away.

Just as the train began to slow, both mentors heard the sound of their phones in their pocket. Both of their expressions turned cold when they read the message.

Make sure you prepare the tributes for a war – Janus xoxo

"Trust Janus to end a chilling message with hugs and kisses." Kelby tried to joke but it fell flat as the doors to the Capitol station opened to enormous amounts of cheers.

There were already posters of Davis and Lorraine on billboards around the station – could district 10 actually get another victor this year?

The looming chaos almost seemed a distant memory as all four of them greeted the Capitolites. Of course it was Davis who made the first impact in the Capitol.

"It's a pig!" He screamed, spotting a woman with pink hair holding her pet pig. He also began screaming the name 'Harriet' and asked if she forgave him for killing his friend and other nonsense but the Capitol was eating it up and loved him.

Lorraine on the other hand looked uncomfortable among the crowd. Kelby approached her and gave her arm a reassuring squeeze.

She began waving toward the crowd and when they responded with loud cheers, her smile became genuine and grew. Kelby could see how much she wanted to win and really hoped that Peyton and himself could get one of them out of the arena alive.

Kelby shook himself out of his thoughts just in time to see Davis moo at a pig and hear Lorraine mutter into a microphone: "God, I could use a glass of wine right now."

Peyton looked like he wanted to curl up in a ball and cry but Kelby was ready to have a great time. He dragged his fellow mentor toward the training centre smiling at the crowd and watched his tributes leave the Capitol in hysterics.

 **Davis Eques**

 **18 years old**

 **District 10 Male**

"I'm telling you, they're both in love with each other."

Ever since Kelby and Peyton left to go to a mentor meeting, Davis had been arguing with his district partner about how their mentors were in totally in love with each other.

"You must be blind. They hate each other." Lorraine argued. At the beginning of the 5 hour train ride, she was quiet and nervous but Davis had soon managed to make her laugh and they got on well – like a house on fire. They soon agreed to be allies and Davis was excited to have some fun before he died.

"No way. That's just a facade. If you look closely you can see the glances they give each other when the other isn't looking."

"But haven't you heard the rumours? Apparently Peyton thinks Kelby wanted his district partner to win so he could get with her."

Davis had a moment of realisation and pulled an 'I have an idea face' that probably looked like he was constipated.

"We have to set them up."

"There's not enough time on earth for that to happen." Lorraine laughed.

"Come on. If we both die, we'd be remembered as the pair who set up the cutest victor couple."

After a minute of thinking, Lorraine finally agreed and had a mischievous grin to match Davis'.

"But we can't let it get in the way of us fighting to stay alive."

"Oh, that doesn't matter for me. I'm not killing anyone. I refuse to use a weapon." Davis said matter of factly but realised he probably should have told Lorraine this before asking her to ally with him.

"Wait, what? Why?"

"I'm a lover, not a fighter."

"But don't you want to get home to your family? Try to have a life after this nightmare?"

"Sure. But there's not much for me back at home and I couldn't live with myself knowing I killed someone."

Despite the fact that Davis was unwilling to use a weapon on anyone, he would be ready to help Lorraine if or when she needed it. If he wasn't going to come out of the arena alive, he wanted to make sure it was Lorraine who did.

Those few minutes were the only few that Davis and Lorraine had been serious around each other. It was a foreign feeling to him but he would rather be goofy and laughing than serious.

"How about we go find some alcohol?" Davis smirked, already racing toward Kelby's room knowing he would have alcohol in there somewhere.

After looting their mentor's room, Lorraine and Davis came across a bottle of red wine that was half empty but it was still alcohol. It wasn't his normal drink but the 12% wine would definitely make the night more interesting.

They took the elevator up to the roof where the sun had just set and lights around the Capitol had started to light up and make the view magnificent.

As the elevator doors opened, another two tributes were waiting to travel back down. They were both young and if Davis remembered correctly, they were the pair from District 7.

The boy, who was very lively put his arm up to give Davis a high five. He didn't see the harm in being friendly to the kid so went to return the high five but was definitely going to have some fun too. However, just before their hands collided, Davis pulled his away and stuck his tongue out. But he was left astounded when Hector had done the exact same thing.

Both of the boys stood there in shock. Davis had never had anyone try to pull a prank on him but he loved how the kid was up for a joke. Eventually all four of them were laughing about the situation.

"Nice one kid. I'm Davis and this is Lorraine, we're both from district 10."

"Ohh, I remember you guys. You were hilarious at the reaping. I'm Hector and this is Nicole." The boy replied. He had obviously noticed the wine but decided to stay quiet. Davis trusted him not to say anything.

"What were you two doing up here anyway?" Lorraine asked.

"I wanted to see the sunset. It was beautiful. And Nicole here is dragging me back up tomorrow morning to see the sunrise."

Davis liked these kids. They seemed genuine and he was glad he'd decided not to fight because he couldn't imagine killing one of these two.

"Be careful of the cameras up here." Nicole warned, signalling to the bottle in Davis' hand.

"Cheers."

"Have a nice night." Lorraine said as the two younger kids got into the elevator. But he could see the pain in her eyes, knowing that she was thinking about them having to die for her to live.

To help her, he held out the bottle of wine and let her have the first swig of it. When Davis tried it, he realised how nice the wine actually was and it must have been expensive. He would find a way to repay his mentor but then he only cared about having fun.

Lorraine and Davis stayed up on the roof from hours, getting tipsy from half a bottle of wine. But a part of him knew that the alcohol wasn't the only reason they were having a laugh.

They planned exactly how they were going to get Peyton and Kelby to go on a date and eventually become the cutest couple. They talked about their life at home and their family. It was one of the funniest nights Davis had had in a long time which ended with him nearly falling off the side of the building but even that near death experience had him in hysterics.

But at midnight their mentors found them and dragged them back to their floor to sleep. Apparently there was more than the one camera that Nicole had spotted and the Capitol had everything on film.

Peyton was definitely the angrier mentor but Davis knew he was a softie at heart – he just needed someone to help him let loose. And that person was definitely Kelby.

Before falling asleep, the last thought on Davis' mind was how he was going to make sure the chariot rides the following night would be a night to remember.

 **A.N: It been a while XD I hope everyone is doing okay because I know that it's probably a hectic time for everyone at the moment. But this chapter is only out today because of my one irl friend who knows about and reads this fic – she blocked me on WhatsApp until I updated XD**

 **So, what did you think of this chapter? Did you like the small interaction between the D10 and D7 tributes? What do you think about Lorraine and Davis' alliance? And do you like Peyton and Kelby?**

 **Just to let you guys know, Peyton, Kelby and Scoria will be the mentors I probably focus on the most in this story but the others won't be forgotten.**

 **QOTC: What age do you have to be to buy a lottery ticket in the UK and then in the US?**


	20. Chapter 20: Chariot Rides

**Pana Fyta**

 **14 years old**

 **District 12 Female**

It took 5 stylists and 2 guards to keep Pana still while she was tortured by all kinds of mini weapons. Weapons called tweezers and razors. Pana hated it. How could they leave her to fend for herself in a mine for years and then continue to torture her when she was found?

Both guards cried out in pain when Pana bit them, which earned her some harsh glares. Those glares were returned with a smirk.

After an hour of struggling and biting, Pana was finally deemed presentable. The stylists looked less than pleased with her but even less pleased with the guards.

"It'll have to do." One of them muttered.

"Since when did Janus hire incompetent fools as guards?" Another questioned.

Pana nearly sniggered at this but remembered who these people actually were. These were people who tortured her and abandoned her in that mine, even if they weren't there. They are the reason her eyebrows feel like they're on fire.

The stylists and guards left the room without saying another word and Pana thought she would actually be free and alone for the first time since coming out of the mine.

She had been forced to sit with the older boy with the name of a skyscraper or something on the journey to wherever the hell they are now. He looked down on Pana and kept acting like he was better than her. Pana snarled at him whenever she saw him looking at her.

However, Pana soon learnt that the torture wasn't over and that she was not going to be left alone. Pana really thought that getting out of that district would stop the torture and allow her to have some alone time.

A short and strange looking man stepped into the room with an exaggerated smile on his face. Pana considered pouncing on him and clawing at his face but decided against it. She would most likely be tortured again.

"Hello, Pana. I'm Bruno, you're head stylist." The strange man had a weird accent that Pana had not heard before. Her head stylist stuck out his hand to her but Pana growled, causing the man to recoil. His smile had faltered but was back in an instant yet Pana recognised the fear in his eyes.

Silence filled the room while the strange man went to the wardrobe on the other side of the room. He returned with an outfit that Pana didn't entirely hate. It looked somewhat comforting.

Pana reluctantly put the outfit on but didn't resist the outfit because it looked….okay? She stood in front of a mirror staring at her outfit with curiosity.

The strange man was behind her admiring the outfit when he turned on a harsh light to see the outfit better. Pana immediately recoiled and screamed while covering her eyes. The light was blinding and seriously hurt her eyes.

"Sorry! Sorry." The strange man apologised, turning off the light. "I momentarily forgot about your mine situation."

"It's okay." Pana mumbled. Those two words were probably the most she's said to anybody in months. She felt somewhat comfortable around this man because she didn't seem to want to torture her like everybody else did.

A genuine smile appeared on the strange man's face and the fear in his eyes vanished. He took a step closer and began to make Pana's outfit and hair neater. But she shook her head, not wanting to be presented as neat.

"You're right, it looks better scruffy." He smiled.

She was surprised that the strange man hadn't cowered in fear yet like everybody else. Pana attempted to smile at the man but it came out more like a grimace because the girl hadn't smiled in 7 years.

"Do you understand the outfit? And the reference." The strange man asked. But Pana shook her head, not knowing what there could be to understand about the outfit.

It was an amazing bold outfit. Smart trousers with a blazer on top of a black shirt. But it wasn't just any old plain suit. The blazer and trousers had bold and striking flames encompassing them. It almost looked like she was standing in the middle of a blazing fire.

The outfit comforted Pana because it slightly reminded her of home, her real home – the mines. She would see all sorts of fires in the mines.

"Don't worry, you'll understand the outfit soon enough."

Straight after the strange man finished his sentence the two guards rushed in telling her it was time for her chariot ride. She began hissing at them which made them hesitant to come near her.

"Good luck." Her head stylist called after her.

Since District 12's chariot was the last to be seen, it was at the very back of the line. It meant that Pana had to walk past every other district's chariot, where all of the tributes were already ready to go.

Everyone began to stare at her and some even threw a few dirty looks her way. Pana glared at anyone who stared at her, causing them to instantly turn away. But she snarled at those who had the cheek to glare at her. How dare they!

However, as Pana walked past more tributes she realised that none of their outfits matched their district partner's. Did that mean the skyscraper guy didn't have an awesome blaze suit like she did?

While Pana had been blocking out her escort and district partner's irritating voices, she had been focusing on a screen which had been showing a rerun of a previous games. It had intrigued Pana because she had no clue what the games were at the time and didn't know how they worked.

But she remembered watching a clip of the chariot ride that year and each district either had matching outfits or co-ordinating outfits. So why did no one have matching or co-ordinating this year? Was this what the strange man meant?

As Pana got to her chariot she saw her district partner looking frustrated. As she got on the chariot, he briefly glanced at her but Pana noticed his eyebrows in surprise. She soon realised why. Her outfit was so much nicer than his. His was ugly and dull. Pana thought it was quite funny.

Her district partner began to look at her again but this time he didn't look away. Pana began to growl at him and tried to scratch him but he backed away as much as he could on the chariot.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" He cried. Pana just growled at him again.

After a few moments of him looking plain scared, he became all happy again and was back to acting like he was above everyone else.

"You're a genius Crane." The boy said to himself and smiled at Pana. She was utterly confused by the whole situation that had just occurred.

"I mean, I guess you're a slight genius too." He said to her.

"Huh?"

"Right, so when we get out there, you'll continue to growl or snarl or whatever and I'll just imitate you but in a more friendly and jokey way. The sponsors will love it." He smiled.

Then the boy proceeded to growl at her which caused Pana to growl back but more viciously.

"See, you're doing great sweetie."

 _Who the fuck does this guy think he is?_

 **Janus Megalos**

 **President of Panem**

Janus was a nervous wreck. He needed the chariot rides to go well and he needed the tributes to focus and cooperate. They also needed to understand Janus' theme for tonight and use it as motivation.

The crowd in the stadium were already going wild and screens to the side of him showed that other huge crowds around the Capitol were also going wild. Hopefully the chariot rides would live up to their expectations.

As the President of Panem, Janus was expected to give a speech and had to sit on a balcony with only one guest of his choice. Obviously he would choose Selene but with a matter of minutes until the District 1 chariot being revealed, the assistant was nowhere to be seen. But to be totally honest, Janus wished he and Selene could just watch the chariot rides from his sofa. It would be much more comfortable.

Finally the young girl appeared next to him with two large glasses of white wine and a large bag of crisps.

Janus felt nauseous just looking at the alcohol. The lack of sleep had put him off alcohol and fast foods. "I'll take the crisps thanks. But I'll pass on the wine."

"You might want that wine after you hear my news."

Janus didn't think he could handle any more bad news. It seemed that whenever someone had news for him recently, it was always negative. He was sick of it. Janus downed the glass of wine and asked, "So Selene, what bad news do you bring this time?"

"Britain want to use nuclear weapons."

"What!" Janus wanted to throw up. Did they not realise the disastrous effects a nuclear weapons could have on the whole world? "But what about the consequences on everyone?"

"Well the good news is that everyone else is against it. Also, the Irish Head of State said that Britain's government situation is only deteriorating so it should be easy for him to persuade them not to use nuclear weapons."

"Well, that's something good I guess." Janus sighed, looking to his left at the screens showing all of the chariots and the tributes with uncoordinated outfits.

"Do you think any of them have recognised the outfits or figured out the theme?" He asked.

"Not yet. But I think most will realise when the Capitol do."

Suddenly, the lights went down, music was blasted through the speakers and the audience's applause was deafening.

The District 1 chariot started to appear and somehow the cheers and applause got louder. However, as soon as everyone could see the outfits of the pair, there was a moment of complete silence. Then the stadium burst into cheers and screams of admiration. Janus smiled. He was thrilled at the outfits and he couldn't wait for the rest

The District 1 pair looked stunning. Extravagance was wearing a long, burgundy velvet dress. He looked breath taking and both he and the Capitol loved the dress. Janus noted how the boy knew how to work his camera angles and play up to the crowd who absolutely adored him. Extravagance even did a little twirl to show off the intricate back of the dress which resulted in a lot of Capitolites throwing roses his way.

Tangent looked beautiful in her outfit but was acting very differently toward the crowd. Tangent stood with a stern expression on her face, barely interacting with the crowd but they loved it. Usually girls from District 1 blew kisses towards the cameras and waved at the crowd but Tangent did none of that. Her outfit was covered in diamonds and all other kinds of jewels. She wore a silver mini dress with a long, cape-like jacket to top it off. She looked like the most expensive girl in the world.

Shortly after, the District 2 chariot rolled out. As soon as their outfits were unveiled, gasps of surprise erupted in the stadium and every Capitolite had a shocked expression plastered on their face.

"I think they've realised." Selene chuckled.

"They certainly have. And they love it."

This year each tribute wore the exact same outfit that their mentor did, to hopefully inspire them to fight. But in some cases, the outfit had to be changed slightly to properly suit the tribute. Selene had come up with the idea and Janus loved it. The Capitol loved the idea too. It seemed that a lot of the tributes still waiting to appear had figured it out too. The first two districts certainly had.

Tarquin wore a suit of armour that replicated that of the Ancient Romans. The armour seemed to suit him and he could handle the weight of it, something that would be passed onto the artificial warriors which would definitely be a benefit. He wore a mischievous grin on his face and kept winking to the audience and even caught a rose that was thrown towards him.

Whereas Aelia started by politely waving towards the crowd but eventually gained some confidence from the audience's applause and started to strike poses to show off her magnificent outfit. She wore the outfit her mentor, Kaya Ellis had worn and been remembered for. It was a gold bodysuit with an intricate gold pattern on it. The outfit was completed with a long, gold train to make the outfit a dress which covered most of the chariot.

However, Aelia and Tarquin did not interact with each other. At all. It worried Janus because he needed the career pack to be strong and functional this year. Janus had only just learnt about their sibling relation and he couldn't have something as simple as that ruining his plans.

"You're worried about them." Selene commented.

"How comes Tarquin knows but Aelia doesn't? And why hasn't he told her? If Aelia finds out or if Tarquin refuses to work with her, it could hinder the performance and chemistry of the career pack."

"Do you want me to tell Kaya and Dax about the situation? See if they can help?"

"No." Janus sighed. "We can't risk Aelia finding out or striking a nerve with Tarquin."

Janus did feel sorry for the pair. He secretly hoped Aelia found out that Tarquin was her brother because everyone deserves to know who their family is. But Janus couldn't risk the disastrous consequences it could have.

District 3 were probably the most mismatched of all the districts. Margit was wearing a beautiful blue and black dress that was lit up from underneath the dress with blue bulbs. She also held a wand that also had a blue lit bulb. She kept waving it everywhere as she greeted the audience, almost hitting Duplo with it multiple times. Duplo had to duck to avoid getting hit and became irritated with the girl. The audience found their interaction hilarious.

Duplo wore a black suit but the arms of the blazer were loaded with metal so his arms looked like those of a robots.

Janus always thought that this chariot outfit was one of the weirdest he had seen – why hadn't the stylists just made a full robot suit?

Duplo seemed to move better in the outfit than his mentor, Modemia had with her robot armed dress all those years ago. When he wasn't dodging Margit's wand or glaring at her, Duplo was standing tall and held a smug and confident look on his face.

The cheers for District 4 were as loud as the previous three districts. The Capitol always loved the careers. Selene, not so much.

"I just don't understand how people could want to kill others."

"Unfortunately Selene, they're all raised to be victors of the Hunger Games. People don't realise the guilt that most have after the games."

Hudson was wearing nothing but a pair of swimming trunks. The trunks were light blue with flamingos all over them. No one knew why there were flamingos on the trunks but Hudson didn't seem to care about the random animal choice or the lack of clothes.

He nodded and cheered at the crowd which they absolutely loved. Janus knew that this boy would be one of the Capitol's favourites.

Ripley looked unsure of herself and unsure of her outfit but she looked amazing. She wore a two piece outfit, which had a long, elegant blue skirt and a blue, flowery bralette. The audience loved her outfit but it seemed as though Ripley didn't recognise that. She smiled at the cameras but her eyes were wide in fear and she constantly glanced to her right at Hudson. It was peculiar for a career but she still got loud cheers from the audience.

The District 5 pair got louder cheers than usual. Their chariot outfits were magnificent and the crowd evidently approved.

Ariela wore a superhero costume that was called a superwoman costume in the pre-panem days. It was the most creative way of showing power Janus had ever seen. Ariela had a small, sad smile at first but eventually her smile appeared a little more joyous. She even struck the classic superhero pose much to the audience's delight.

Spark was a little more reserved. They too had a sad smile to begin with but the extravagant cheers and appearences of the Capitol appeared to give them more confidence as they did a little twirl to show off their outfit. Spark wore a suit which had vertical silver stripes on the blazer and trousers to perhaps suggest power in an electrical circuit.

The audience were still lively as the District 6 pair came out. Both had smiles on their faces and were waving to the crowd.

Jester wore a pilot's suit which had been a great way to sow transportation. Sure, there were no longer any aeroplanes in Panem but they were still there in the movies. Jester displayed a totally different character than he did at his reaping. Instead of keeping a stern expression, Jester had a huge smile on his face and was interacting with the crowd who were cheering ecstatically for him. Perhaps Jester felt at home here in the Capitol.

Janus soon realised after the boy's reaping that Jester was already known by the Capitol. He had been the Capitol Couture's youth representative for two consecutive years. The Capitol loved him although, he did make a lot of pessimistic comments and was in no way a jester.

Perona looked like she belonged in District 4 but so did Otto all those years ago. Perona wore a surfing suit and held a huge surfboard next to her. Her hair was also in beach waves which really suited her. The outfit didn't blatantly represent transportation but Janus could see how it could be argued as a form of transportation. Her movement was limited due to the surfboard but she did her best and the audience seemed to love her.

Since Janus became President, all aspects of the games has been filmed, including conversations about tactics and game plans and any tribute interactions. However, these conversations were only shown to the Capitol after the bloodbath so other tributes didn't find out any other tributes' game plan. Some argued that it took away the element of surprise and therefore took away some of the fun from the games but Janus always thought that it was even more exciting to see plans diminished because of the arena or unexpected deaths or conditions.

Due to everything being filmed, the District 7 pair got tremendous applause and cheers because of their entertaining interaction with Davis and Lorraine the previous night.

Nicole wore a beautiful, big dress that had the pattern of a butterfly's wings. She hesitantly waved at the audience throughout but she was fascinated with her dress and kept admiring it. Janus really liked Nicole and hoped she went far in the games because he would hate to see her murdered.

Hector stood still with his arms crossed for most of the time, probably still angry about the handcuffs he was put in after the reapings. But the Capitol loved his fire and stubbornness, believing he could really win this thing. Hector wore a suit with shorts instead of trousers. The suit was covered in green leaves, making the suit look a sickly green colour. Hector didn't look too pleased with that either.

All of a sudden, Hector moved from his stern position to get something behind him. He emerged with many, mini origami flowers and handed them to Nicole, who started blushing. Hector seemed to praise Nicole for her talent and the Capitol loved the two even more.

"She's very talented." Selene commented.

"Definitely."

The next chariot out was District 8 and neither tribute seemed to acknowledge the other.

Evanna held a smug expression while waving to the crowd. What was that girl up to? She seemed really confident which was rare for a tribute from District 8. Evanna wore a pastel, rainbow coloured mesh over a white bralette and booty shorts. It replicated the intricate and amazing skill of the textiles back in District 8.

Orion also had a smile on his face but it looked like a forced and scared smile. His eyes showed a mix of fear and anger. The crowd still cheered loudly for the two. Orion wore a smart suit which had a pastel dye soaked into it.

There were a few laughs as the District 9 tributes came out. Bran Miller had been one of the most talked about tributes in the Capitol just because of his name. Everyone found his stereotypical name hilarious. But the publicity also meant that Bran had quite a lot of people rooting for him.

Janus wasn't sure if Bran knew about his publicity but the boy gave enthusiastic waves to the audience but they looked a little too desperate. Perhaps he really needed to get home. Not just for his sake, but for others' too. Bran wore a scarecrow outfit which was actually really fitting for his district and it made people laugh even more.

Janus kept a close eye on Verity. She had worn a beret during the reapings and he couldn't risk anyone finding out about other countries existing. Verity wore a big, cream dress that sort of looked like a ball gown. It was decorated with gold and brown flowers. Her outfit was completed with a gold flower crown. Verity went bright red as her chariot came out but managed to smile and nod occasionally to the crowd. Hopefully the girl would come out of her shell in training.

Janus rolled his eyes as District 10 came out. He didn't understand why he had to use Davis' and Lorraine's cells for the army. Surely they wouldn't even take the games seriously? But as they came out they received the loudest cheers of the night since they were already the favourites of the Capitol and even the district's.

Davis wore denim overalls with a checked shirt and a straw hat to complete a farmer outfit. He was falling all over the place and even fell flat on his face, much to the audience's delight.

"Okay, who gave this guy alcohol?" Janus sighed.

"Probably Kelby."

"Idiot. Where's Peyton when you need him."

Janus was really irritated by Davis but he had to remain neutral towards all of the tributes so kept his expression neutral when the cameras turned towards him. Additionally, Davis was a favourite of the Capitol so had to give him a fair chance in the games.

Lorraine seemed a little shy when the chariot first came out and seemed quite overwhelmed by the crowd but was soon diminished with the help of Davis. He got Lorraine waving enthusiastically to the crowd and made her strike stupid poses.

The District 10 girl wore a cow onesie with a cow bell around her neck. It suited her and her experience in the Capitol and reapings so far since it was fun and goofy.

Both District 11 tributes looked amazing as their chariot came out. The crowd seemed to love them too which gave the pair some confidence.

Henry wore a pristine, matching suit that had metallic purple roses embroidered into the fabric. It made the boy look like he was glowing. Henry was beaming as he waved to the crowd and his smile showed off his perfect teeth. However, Henry also showed his caring and loving side to everyone as he helped Lacey overcome some nerves and interact with the audience.

Lacey didn't do much at the start but after some encouragement from Henry, she was loving the crowd and began dancing and twirling for them. She wore a gorgeous white dress which was laced with blood red rose petals and the outfit was completed a rose flower crown. She looked like a princess.

Last up was District 12 who probably surprised everyone the most. As they came out, Pana and Crane were growling at each other and it was somehow made into a growling and snarling competition. It was evident that Pana was growling properly and looked genuinely annoyed with her district partner. However, Crane had a hint of a smile on his face and it was obviously a tactic to him. Janus had to admit, it was a smart idea. But he did think that most of the applause was for Crane.

Pana wore smart trousers with a blazer on top of a black shirt. But it wasn't just any old plain suit. The blazer and trousers had bold and striking flames encompassing them. It almost looked like she was standing in the middle of a blazing fire. She looked amazing. Plus her hair was brushed and styled back.

Crane also wore an eccentric outfit but not exactly the good kind. He wore a hi Vis, illuminous orange jacket and trousers that was smudged with black dust. Crane was supposed to look like the miners who worked in the District 12 mines. The idea was great but it could never be presented attractively. The look was completed with a yellow hard hat.

Finally all 12 chariots had entered the stadium and had completed a lap around it to be standing in front of Janus' balcony. With a nod from a director, Janus stood up to address the tributes. As he stood up, Janus noticed that most of the tribute's outfits looked even more amazing in person. These stylists really were talented.

"Tributes, congratulations. You have been selected or have volunteered to represent your district in the 172nd Hunger Games."

Obviously Janus didn't believe a word he was saying but it had been a normality to congratulate tributes of the Hunger Games. And Janus didn't want to disrupt the system in fear of causing chaos.

"You all look amazing tonight and you all made quite the entrance."

The Capitol audience laughed slightly. While Selene sniggered next to him which earned her a stern look from Janus.

"Now, if you haven't realised already, you are all wearing the outfit your mentor wore during their chariot rides. This is to inspire and motivate you to try your hardest and fight all the way to the end, so you too can be victorious. Especially since the games are unpredictable and anybody can win."

A few of the tributes rolled their eyes, thinking Janus' speech was excessive. But he hoped they would listen to him carefully and do what he said so he could compose the strongest army possible.

"Additionally, I expect you all to listen very closely to your mentors and do exactly as they say because they know how to come out of a games victorious and they are the only ones who will help you survive."

Janus always felt weird addressing the tributes because he was so close in age to them all – only 4 years older than the oldest tribute. He never felt like their President, instead he always felt like a teacher scolding their students. But he wasn't even old enough to be a teacher.

"And of course, may the odds be ever in your favour."

Janus smiled politely as he finished his speech which earned tremendous amounts of applause from the audience and little applause from the tributes.

The chariot rides had shown Janus one thing: These games were going to be the hardest to win, the Capitol loved everyone.

 **Aelia Stafford**

 **18 years old**

 **District 2 Female**

The chariot rides were okay, the Capitol loved them as was expected. Aelia's outfit was breath-taking and the best part of the evening.

Aelia and Tarquin hadn't talked in public together nor had they interacted with each other during the chariot rides. It was all part of their plan to get to the end and do District 2 proud. But for Aelia, the most important thing was making her family proud.

The pair had told their mentors about their plan and they reacted confidently and enthusiastically. However, they emphasised that they still needed to watch each other's back in public and when they didn't talk to one another. Tarquin reacted weirdly to that but Aelia just brushed it off as nerves.

In District 2, Tarquin and Aelia hadn't really talked to each other. But on the train ride to the Capitol they set out a plan for the Capitol and a rough one for the games. That had pleased Aelia since she knew exactly what she was supposed to do. They also tried to get to know each other but Tarquin seemed so… odd? He was quite reserved when talking about himself and his family and Aelia could have sworn she saw him flinch when she started talking about her mum.

After the President had given his speech, the chariots did not move quickly enough for Aelia. She just wanted to get off of the chariot and talk to the other careers. She needed to evaluate which of them she had to be overly wary of and she needed them to have a plan by the time they had to go up to their floors. Since arriving in the Capitol all Aelia had wanted to do was sort out a plan with the careers so they all knew what they were doing and could make a huge impact on the Capitol and on the other tributes.

Aelia was the first tribute off of the chariots, nearly tripping over her dress. Tarquin seemed to be one of the last off of them, frustrating her but evidently amusing him.

The District 2 pair walked over to the pair from District 1 and waited for the other two careers to join them. Aelia knew they wouldn't have much time so wanted to make a plan for training but everyone else wanted to start with small talk and greetings.

Aelia kept her introduction short and brief while others, like Extravagance decided to explain their whole life story. Aelia zoned out and started to study the other careers.

Extravagance was definitely going to be dangerous and had already established himself as the leader of the pack, something which Aelia didn't mind. Tangent's gaze kept wondering around the hall and to other tributes, not paying attention either. She didn't look like the typical District 1 girl but she seemed like one to Aelia. Ripley looked really nervous and kept glancing at all three of the career boys. It was weird.

Hudson on the other hand, kept glancing between Aelia and Tarquin and she could practically hear the clicking and ticking of his thoughts. She guessed that he had noticed her and Tarquin's lack of communication and awkward body language. Their plan was working. But it also meant that Hudson was observant and smart, something they would have to be cautious of.

Finally Aelia decided that Tangent looked the most trustworthy, after Tarquin of course. So she made a note to herself to talk to Tangent in training tomorrow and see her game plan. Maybe she could join in with her and Tarquin's plan because the District 1 pair didn't seem that close.

"So, what do you think of the other tributes?" Tarquin piped up and glared at the outer district tributes. With some cowering in fear from his gaze.

"They all look so strong." Ripley whispered.

All of the careers looked at her strangely. Some of the 12 year olds were barely 5 foot, how could she think they were threats? As everyone turned to her, her eyes went wide and her face red. Perhaps she hadn't meant to say that out loud. But immediately after Ripley's expression was stern and she just shrugged.

"Well, the pair from 10 are a joke." Extravagance laughed.

"The Capitol seem to love them. That means a lot of sponsors which could be crucial." Aelia argued, with the rest of the careers agreeing with her.

"I just think that they will be their own downfall. They don't seem to take anything seriously."

"We should probably decide on tactics for tomorrow." Tangent said.

Finally, the part Aelia had been waiting for, a plan. A plan that she could follow and stick to. It would help her focus and enable her to show off her skills.

However, just as they were about to decide on a plan, the boy from District 3 bounced up to them and introduced himself.

"Seriously!" Aelia sighed, irritated that they still hadn't decided on a plan.

Duplo's huge grin faltered for a moment but it was back in an instant. He was really confident and Aelia didn't like it.

"I have a proposal for you guys. You let me ally with the careers and I protect you all with my amazing skills."

Extravagance laughed in the boy's face, so loud that most tributes turned in his direction. It was obvious that Duplo was fuming at this, but seriously, what did her expect? Tarquin also had a smirk on his face but he had a slightly calmer and rational response.

"Okay, so what are these amazing skills then?"

"Well, I can use pretty much anything as weapon."

"Even the District 12 mine freak can do that." Extravagance said coldly, standing up straight so he loomed over Duplo.

"I can mould weapons out of pretty much everything. Especially if there's metal present."

"They give us weapons at the start if you didn't comprehend that."

At this point, Duplo was red from rage. He hadn't taken a liking to Extravagance but the career was just stating the facts. In reality, his amazing skills weren't so impressive. Plus Aelia thought he was way too confident for someone from District 3.

"Everyone loves me too."

Tangent giggled at that. But she wasn't too impressed with her giggling, and neither was her district partner.

"Sorry, kid but we're here to win. You don't have any outstanding skills to give us." Tarquin shrugged, turning his attention away from Duplo.

"Kid?! I'm older than you, you idiot."

Duplo looked like a tomato at his point. He obvious wasn't used to rejection or people not liking him.

"You'll all regret this you know. I'll form another alliance and you'll wish you were as great as us." And with that, Duplo stormed off.

"Like anyone's gonna wanna ally with him." Hudson rolled his eyes, bored of the encounter. "So, about that plan?"

"Right. I think we should focus on weapons tomorrow. Try to intimidate the other tributes and-" Extravagance started but Aelia cut him off.

"You realise that we're doing compulsory activities tomorrow. We don't get to freely train or use weapons until the day after."

"That's ridiculous." He huffed.

"Yup."

"Just show off in whatever activity we're doing. And be loud about it." Tangent stated. It was a pretty good idea. Aelia didn't know if she would be able to do it though. She would try but her main aim was to talk to Tangent more.

"I'll be good at that." Extravagance beamed.

"Me too."

"Me three." The other two boys joined in, causing all three of them to burst out in fits of laughter. Aelia knew that it would be a struggle to bear with these three boys for potentially two weeks. They were just too similar and would wreak havoc.

"Well, I'm going up. See you guys tomorrow." Tarquin said and walked away, leaving Aelia behind. She could only huff at his retreating figure.

"What an asshole." She muttered under her breath, just loud enough for the others to hear. Then she left and headed to the elevator herself.

As she turned away, a small grin was etched onto her face. The careers seemed like they were falling straight into the District 2 pair's hands. Aelia and Tarquin had planned their separate and irritated exits, hoping everyone would really believe they didn't like each other.

When she reached their floor, Tarquin was leaning on the sofa waiting for her. He also had a grin on his face but it wasn't as big and looked slightly nervous. Again, odd.

"So what do you think of the careers?" She asked.

"Obviously, they're all threats. But we expected that. Extravagance being the pack leader is good because he's strong and has great leadership skills. But I think we need to be careful of Tangent. There's something off about her and it could make her the dark horse of the career pack."

"Definitely. I'll talk to her more tomorrow and see what's weird about her. Also, be careful of Hudson. He kept looking over at us today. I think he knew we didn't get along before our little act. He's very observant."

"Okay, that's good to know. I think I'll talk to Ripley tomorrow because I haven't been able to figure her out yet."

"Sounds like a plan." Aelia replied, feeling confident for once. She believed more than ever that she could win the games.

However, there was still that part in her that felt incomplete. She had thought that reaching the Capitol would make her feel complete but that wasn't the case. Maybe she would have to wait for that feeling until she reached the arena.

"Our plan is working really well. We just need to ensure we don't slip up during training." Tarquin said, becoming serious.

"Trust me, I won't. I need this plan to work so I can make my family proud and get back to them."

Tarquin didn't reply. Instead he wouldn't look in her direction. So she decided to continue talking.

"Who do you want to make proud, Tarquin? The district? Your dad? Your mum? Any siblings?"

After that statement, Tarquin looked her in the eyes and still said nothing. Then he stood up and went to his room. All without a word.

 **A.N: Hi, so yes I'm still alive XD and so are the tributes (for now lol). It's been a while but I hope you're all doing well and enjoying summer if it's summer for you. This chapter really should have been up a week ago but I had hand surgery and then prom. But, enough with the excuses XD**

 **So, it is summer which means more frequent updates and I'm hoping the next one will be up tomorrow or Monday.**

 **Plus, this is literally the longest chapter I've ever written which is cool. Sorry if it got a bit repetitive towards the middle.**

 **Do you like Pana, or dislike her like most of the characters do? What did you think of the chariot outfits? Do you think the careers will get along? Will Aelia and Tarquin's plan work? And will Duplo form an alliance to bring down the careers?**

 **QOTC: Which two countries are in the final of the women's football world cup?**

 **See ya soon!**


	21. Chapter 21: Yoga Training?

**Hudson Acquati**

 **18 years old**

 **District 4 Male**

Hudson and Ripley were the first careers down to the training room. However, it wasn't the training room he expected to see. He was sure that everyone expected to walk into a large centre with numerous stations to help them improve survival and weaponry skills. Instead they walked into a hall with mats and, large bouncy balls?

He and Ripley had exchanged a confused look but as soon as they made eye contact his district partner looked away and started muttering to himself.

Ever since they had arrived in the Capitol the girl had been acting odd and he couldn't figure out why. She would only make small talk and he would have to be the one to initiate conversations about tactics and the pack. It was almost as if she believed she wasn't worthy of being a career. Whatever it was, it prevented Hudson from being able to trust her. How was he unable to trust his own district partner?

Hudson couldn't say for sure whether or not he could trust the other careers yet, he would have to get to know them better and observe their strengths and weaknesses. But of course he would never completely trust any tribute in the arena with him. He wasn't stupid.

More tributes began to enter the hall, looking as confused as he and Ripley did. However, Tarquin entered the hall by himself, with no sign of Aelia. He greeted the two district four tributes with a nod.

"Where's Aelia?" Ripley asked, immediately turning red when both boys faced her.

Hudson had been wondering the exact same thing. Since their reaping Hudson had noticed something weird about them. At first he thought that they were hiding something but after seeing their interaction in person he thought maybe they despised each other. Could they be even more dysfunctional than himself and Ripley?

He knew he had to watch them closely because for all he knew it could all be an act to gain sponsors or fool the rest of the pack only to stab them in the back later on.

"Not sure." The boy from two replied bluntly.

Soon the only tributes that were left to arrive were the other three careers. However, the whole hall knew when they had arrived thanks to Extravagance.

"I knew it!" The boy from one shouted. But that wasn't what caught everyone's attention.

Extravagance was wearing an illuminous pink baggy vest top with illuminous pink booty shorts. It certainly left little to the imagination which along with Ripley's reaction made Hudson giggle.

To top the outfit off, he wore a pastel purple bandana which did not match the rest of the outfit whatsoever. With him was Aelia and Tangent who were laughing with the career and laughing at the whole room's jaws dropping.

"Well. You sure know how to make an entrance." Hudson laughed.

"Sweetheart, I'm the king of entrances." Extravagance winked.

"Your bandana doesn't match the outfit though." Tarquin said. It was true but why did the guy have to ruin the fun.

"For goodness sake Tarquin. Do you need to take everything so seriously?" Aelia groaned sending a harsh glare to her district partner. He just rolled just rolled his eyes in response.

There was definitely something up with those two. More than meets the eye and Hudson was determined to get to the bottom of it before the two died in the games.

"It's just fashion dear. But of course you wouldn't know."

"I wonder what we're doing today." Ripley piped up. But in all honesty he had forgotten his district partner was there.

"Have you seriously not clocked sweetheart?"

At this Ripley went a deep shade of red and looked like she wanted to crawl into a hole. However, Hudson heard Tarquin whisper to her than he hadn't clocked onto what they were doing either. This made a small smile appear on Ripley's face.

"We're doing yoga." Tangent commented when no one else did.

It all made sense to Hudson now. They had been able to choose out of two shirts and two bottoms (all of which was made out of lycra) today and they were even able to choose the colour. Hudson had chosen black leggings and a white shirt. Most of the outer district tributes had chosen all black or really dark colours, probably in hopes to blend in. Extravagance certainly went for the opposite.

However, the outfits along with the equipment in the room should have told Hudson that they were doing yoga. He was annoyed at himself for not realising it sooner.

Now that everyone was there the instructor called everyone over and announced that they would be participating in yoga sessions. Some of the room groaned and others seemed somewhat excited and relieved.

"Now everyone find a mat."

Before the careers could get first pick of the mats Ripley looked stone cold and spoke bluntly.

"I am _not_ doing that."

"Why not?"

"We'll look like fools. I will not be made to look like an idiot."

"Everyone's in the same boat sweetheart. Everyone is gonna look like a fool. But it'll be fun."

"The hunger games aren't fun." The girl said as she made her way toward the door. However, it was guarded by two Peacekeepers who were explaining to her that her participation was mandatory.

Tarquin jogged over to her to bring her back to the group. Much to her dismay. By this time the only mats free were at the back which Extravagance huffed and puffed about. But the instructor reassured him that they would rotate throughout the day.

Tarquin went to sit on the mat next to Ripley while Aelia sat on the one next to him which left the district 1 pair together. He wondered why Aelia had sat next to him instead of Tangent but he saw it as an opportunity to get to know the girl a bit more. But also to have a little fun.

Around the room he could see certain tributes had chosen to sit by others in hopes of an alliance. Others that were sat together he knew were already allies like the two kids from district 7 or the two idiots from 10. The quicker the careers figured out the other alliances the easier it would be to target them and exploit their weaknesses.

The instructor made everyone do a mini warm up accompanied with some stretches which was obviously light work for the careers so Hudson used it as an opportunity to initiate a conversation with Aelia.

"So Aelia, what's up with you and Tarquin?" He decded to jump straight in. She was taken aback by the question.

"What do you mean?"

"You guys aren't exactly best buds. Which his weird from a pair from 2."

"He's just rude. Wouldn't talk to me after we were both chosen to volunteer. So I see no reason to put the effort in."

That was interesting to hear. Hudson was sure she wasn't telling him the whole truth but he wouldn't push any further. For now.

The first position they had to do was called the downward dog. He got an unpleasant view of Duplo's arse in front of him but luckily he didn't have to look up for long.

Hudson was surprised he could perform the stretch so well considering he wasn't the most flexible of people. Others seemed to struggle including Extravagance.

The boy from One began making really loud moaning and groaning sounds. It wasn't the most pleasant of sounds but it had the rest of the careers on the floor in fits of laughter. The other tributes tried to stifle their laughter but once Davis and Lorraine began laughing hysterically the whole room joined in.

Extravagance didn't seem bothered that everyone was laughing at him and instead groaned even louder.

It took the instructor 5 minutes to calm everyone down, but she was definitely amused. Hudson took a minute to look around at the other tributes with genuine smiles on their faces. In another they could have been his friends in the training centre or the lower years he used to coach at the centre.

Hudson hadn't realised how human all of the tributes would be. They were all just innocent kids or typical teenagers. It was going to be a lot harder for Hudson than he had initially realised.

"Hello. Earth to Hudson." He heard Aelia calling him.

"Huh?" His response caused a ripple of chuckles among the other tributes.

"You gotta do the tree pose." Aelia said and demonstrated the pose perfectly. She was able to keep her balance and didn't even wobble. She closed her eyes and looked like she had found her peaceful place.

Hudson tried and couldn't find his balance with his eyes open let alone with them closed. He didn't like the fact that he couldn't do it and tried his best to stay still, to no success.

"So why did you want to volunteer?" Aelia asked him, still maintaining the pose.

"To bring pride to my district. It's the most important thing."

"What about you?" He said after a moments pause.

"I'm doing it for my family. But also to feel complete, there's been something missing for years."

"What do you think it is?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe the feeling of victory or the experience of the games. Maybe even a person."

Hudson thought it was an interesting reason for volunteering but he hoped it didn't motivate her too much. He needed to be the one to come out of the arena alive. He supposed he could accept Ripley winning but everyone had figured out that wasn't going to happen.

When he looked over at Aelia she was still in the zone and still kept her balance. Hudson wanted to have some fun since he couldn't do the stupid tree pose.

So Hudson started poking his ally in hopes that she would fall over. Yet she kept her balance.

"Push me over Hudson and I swear I will end you right here right now." The girl said calmly.

Hudson raised his eyebrows at this. Sure Aelia probably could kill him but he could equal her efforts. Plus she couldn't do anything until they got into the arena anyway. So he just laughed it off and then pushed her over.

Aelia's face was expressionless for a brief moment and then directed the nastiest glare towards Hudson. He immediately began running away from the girl but she had jumped on his back in an instant and wrestled him to the ground.

They began mock fighting, each having a small smirk on their face. But as soon as Hudson thought he was going to win the instructors pulled them off of each other.

They both looked at each other and then burst out in a fit of laughter. The two tributes gave each other a hug and Hudson knew he had found the one person in the alliance he would trust.

However, out of the corner of his eye Hudson saw Tarquin narrowing his eyes at the pair. What was his problem?

 **Jester Marley**

 **16 years old**

 **District 6 Male**

Jester couldn't stop thinking about his sister. He was so worried that she wouldn't be able to fend for herself. He had spent his teenage years doing anything he could to provide for Ridley so she wouldn't have to worry.

Now she was all alone. Would the authorities in District 6 realise that the two had been living alone for the past four years without an adult? Would they put her into the care system? Or put her in that run down orphanage.

The thought made him sick and not even the stupid yoga session helped him relax. It just made him more frustrated because he couldn't master any of the positions. Jester couldn't wait for the normal training sessions where he could admire the amazing technology of the Capitol whilst working with and manipulating it.

However, Jester was literally knocked out of his thoughts when the boy from District 12 fell into him. Jester landed awkwardly on his wrist but it didn't hurt too much. He was just relieved to be distracted from his thoughts.

"For goodness sake. Why couldn't I have just stayed in bed?" The boy from 12 moaned, not even apologising.

"That's not gonna help you win the games, is it?" Jester mumbled under his breath as he got up.

"Oh sweetie, I actually have intelligence to bring me success."

Jester hadn't realised the boy had heard him. The reply irritated him. Crane obviously had no clue Jester was also quite intelligent and was recognised for his intelligence.

"Yeah, because wanting to sleep all day totally displays your intelligence." He didn't want the boy thinking he had won.

Crane grunted and then a grin formed on his face. "Huh, I like you kid."

The two stood in silence again trying to focus on the yoga moves to no success. They were interrupted by two of the careers 'fighting' each other and laughing loudly. A lot of the outer district tributes looked awkward and weren't sure what to do.

Well except the tributes from 10 and 7. The crazy one from 10, Davis or something swiped Hector's legs from under him and pinned him down. He pretended to land punch after punch and the young boy acted out a very dramatic response. He had also spotted Davis' district partner beside him and swiped her feet from under her.

Somehow on her way down Lorraine knocked Nicole down and the four tributes were on the floor laughing hysterically.

With the careers still laughing and now these four, Jester couldn't handle it. There was nothing to laugh about in this situation yet they were all taking it for a joke.

"I guess we know the actual tributes without any brain cells." Crane next to him piped up. But the boy from 12 had a smile on his face, finding the whole situation amusing.

"The careers?"

"No, the other ones. I think the careers are going to be fun this year."

"You won't find them fun when one of them is stabbing you in the chest."

Crane laughed as if Jester had told a joke. It was meant to be the opposite of a joke. "Woah, who invited Mr Pessimism to yoga?"

Jester just shrugged, not knowing how to respond to the boy.

"Come on, you have to admit they're an amusing bunch."

"That doesn't change the fact that they would murder us all now if they could."

"I don't think all of them would to be honest."

Jester was surprised at this as his eyebrows had shot up. Crane was intriguing he had to admit. And a lot smarter than he had initially thought. Who else here had he underestimated?

"So we're obviously both smart and realistically two of the few tributes who actually have a shot at winning this thing. So why not be allies?" Crane asked.

Jester hadn't actually thought about having an ally and no one had even mentioned it to him yet. He didn't know if he wanted one or not.

He would never fully trust an ally and display no loyalties to them. His focus would be on himself and getting back to Ridley. However, Crane seemed to have to same motive. Plus both of their brains together would make them unstoppable.

Crane's expectant look made Jester realised he hadn't answered the boy yet.

"You know, you weren't what I was looking for either. But we'd still make an amazing team." Crane said as if reading his mind.

Jester stuck out his hand. "You have yourself an ally."

Both boys tried to do the stupid tree pose again so sponsors wouldn't give up on them for not trying. Plus it looked like a couple of tributes could give Jester a run for his money as the favourite of the Capitol – despite them knowing him for two years long.

Neither boy had managed to hold the pose for more than a few seconds without falling over or looking for support.

Suddenly, Jester's district partner appeared in front of the two with an amused look on her face.

"Have you guys never seen a tree before?"

"Nope." Jester said at the same time Crane said "Of course I have."

Perona looked really confused and baffled at the fact Jester hadn't seen a tree despite them living in the same district. During their brief conversation on the train ride to the Capitol the two had realised they had lived on opposite sides of the district. Jester's side was a lot more industrialised so factories had taken up the spaces which were previously occupied by trees. Perona must have actually had trees on her side of the district.

"Here, let me help you guys." Perona said and tried her hardest to help the boys. It was evidently stressing her out that neither of them could do it properly but she spent 15 minutes helping them. They hadn't perfected the pose but both boys could hold it for at least seven seconds which was an achievement in itself.

They were once again interrupted by the District 7 and 10 tributes laughing hysterically.

"How comes two of the oldest tributes allied with two of the youngest?" Jester wondered aloud.

"Oh didn't you know, they're not allies. The District 10 pair are an alliance and the District 7 pair are a separate alliance."

"What?!" Both Crane and Jester looked back at Perona, shocked at the revelation.

"How do you know this?"

"I was speaking to Nicole earlier. They're just really good friends apparently."

"There's no friends in the Hunger Games." Jester said flatly. And Crane nodded his head in agreement, again showing that the two were on the same page. Perona didn't seem to agree or disagree really.

"So who are you allied with?" Crane asked, giving Jester a look that he was sure he knew meant.

"No one." Perona replied with a sad smile.

"What skills do you have?" Jester asked, despite overhearing it the day before.

"Well I can take care of myself so my allies wouldn't have to worry about protecting me and I'm really good at gimp. Which is tying knots and stuff it you didn't know."

"That sounds useful…would you like to join Jester and I's alliance?"

Perona's face beamed and her smile took up her whole face. Crane mirrored her expression and Jester let the tiniest of smiles slip onto his face.

"Thank you!" She said, giving them both a hug. Jester tensed up at his but still gave her an awkward pat on the back.

Realistically, the girl wasn't going to bring much to the alliance, perhaps a few more sponsors. But as shit as it was Jester suspected that Perona was going to die in the bloodbath. And Crane wasn't stupid so probably realised this too.

So why did he want the girl as an ally?

Jester didn't mind having the girl as an ally that much. Maybe because of district loyalty and familiarity or perhaps it was because Perona was so close in age to his sister.

But again, what reasons did Crane have for wanting to ally with a 14 year old girl who really, only knows how to tie knots?

 **A.N: I bet you weren't expecting an update from this story XD But I've had one POV** **written for months, I just couldn't get the other right. Hopefully, I have now.  
I've always had this yoga session planned and I have a few other fun chapters planned, even if it will take a while to get there lol. But I'm excited.**

 **Since I've had a while to dwell on this story, I've managed to figure out the bloodbath deaths, with some I'm still undecided on so I'll base those off of your guys' reactions and opinions of the tributes. I think I've already got a few victor candidates in mind too but again that'll be subject to opinions on the tributes.**

 **I also feel like I should put the alliances below too:**

 **Origami cuties – Nicole and Hector**

 **Fun Careers – Aelia, Tarquin, Hudson, Ripley, Extravagance and Tangent**

 **Drunk Memes – Davis and Lorraine**

 **What's a tree? – Jester, Crane and Perona**

 **QOTC: Which two teams made the Superbowl final? (and who are you rooting for XD)**


End file.
